


Blade of the Shinobi

by Nanashi_Starrk



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action, Adventure, Animals, Apes & Monkeys, Fantasy, Gen, Katana, Martial Arts, Ninja, Original Character(s), SI/OC, Self-Insert, Shinobi, Swords, Weapons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-07-05 18:51:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 27,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15869634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nanashi_Starrk/pseuds/Nanashi_Starrk
Summary: Given only a sword without a blade and a sword with a reversed blade, Genji Kureno has to find a way to overcome many obstacles that face a ninja. Up against people like Gaara, Orochimaru, and Kimimaro, there is no way he'll be able to stand against that type of enemy with just those swords. Genji will have to learn how to fight, or he will die.





	1. Naruto and Reality

Episode 1: Naruto and Reality

I woke up that morning like I always did. I pushed the sheets off of myself, the same way I've done a thousand times. I rubbed my eyes, the usual. I then realized that I was not in my room.

I looked around. It appeared to be Japanese style. Wait. This style isn't standard Japanese. It's from- no. It can't be.

What the hell is going on?

I darted from my bed and ran out the door. Why were my legs so small? Was I always this low to the ground? I ran into a different door- actually ran into it- and I forced it open.

A girl, around twelve or thirteen was standing in front of a mirror. She had long blond hair, which came down passed her shoulders, and she had green eyes. She was wearing a black shirt, with grey stripes running down her arms and she had matching pants on. She was wearing a black headband with a leaf carved into it. Wait, a leaf?

"What are you doing, Genji?" She growled.

Who the hell's Genji? I'm- oh crap. I forgot what my name was. How the hell did I forget my own name?

She punched me in the face, knocking me on my back.

* * *

The next time I woke up, I was lying on the floor. What the hell's going on?

I better put this together. I am fifteen years old. I don't remember my name. I was living a rather peaceful life as an anime nerd and aspiring-writer. I don't remember what I did yesterday, or the day before that. Based on my usual schedule, I was probably watching anime, writing, playing video games, and/or going to school. Obviously not at the exact same time.

I was probably going to live out my life accomplishing nothing, and die a meaningless death, and one day I'd be forgotten about and no one would even know that I existed.

Am I pessimist? No, I prefer to look at it like a realist. Personally, I wanted to be an author. What are the chances that I'd get famous, though? Not high. Even if I did get famous, one day I would get forgotten. No one in our generation is going to become the next Shakespeare.

Continuing on, I woke up in a strange place, and I couldn't remember my name. I got punched in the face by some chick.

Maybe the place and her appearance could help me piece things together. Hmm, well the place looked vaguely Japanese, though I'm not an expert on Japanese culture. The place reminded me of an anime that I watched. The girl was wearing black and grey... she had blond hair and green eyes. And she had a headband with a leaf on it. Naruto cosplay?

No, it can't be a coincidence. The Naruto-esque house. The Leaf Headband. I have to be in the Naruto Universe. Wait, that makes no sense. How did I rationalize that- even for a second? Maybe I'm more of an idiot than I thought.

I opened my eyes, and I looked up at the ceiling. The girl that attacked me was sitting next to me. "I didn't mean to hit you that hard, Genji. Thought you were stronger than that, sorry. Don't tell Mom, okay?"

I had a headache. Not the dull headache that sometimes occurs when you stare at your computer screen for too long, but the kind of headache that feels like I have a thousand hammers slamming into the side of your skull.

"Well, I'm going to be late for my Squad meeting. Sorry for hitting you too hard." She darted out the door.

Someone must have gave me really bad crack or something. Wait. I don't do drugs. SO HOW DOES ANY OF THIS MAKE SENSE?

* * *

I have confirmed that I am in fact in the Naruto Universe. Why on Earth did it have to be Naruto? Couldn't it have been somewhere like Bleach, Yu Yu Hakusho, or Black Lagoon were it's the real world with stuff added on to it, instead of the entire world of Shinobi or demons? Knowing my luck, even if it was Bleach then I would have died and I would be forced to be a Soul Reaper. Also, I appear to be in the dub of the anime, which is good. If it was the sub or the manga, I wouldn't have known whatever anyone was talking about because I watched the dub.*

My name is Genji Kureno, from a clan of the Leaf. I am eight years old, which means I just started ninja school. Which sucks, because I was hoping I wouldn't have to be a ninja. I was hoping I would have a chance of a normal life- without the chance of getting murdered by Zabuza, Pain, Hidan, Orochimaru, or any other psychotic character in Naruto. But I've already started so I can't back out. I have figured out that I'm in the class of the Rookie Nine.

I've decided that I'm going to befriend Naruto Uzumaki, the golden haired main character, and possibly the rest of the Rookie Nine. All besides Sakura, Ino, and Sasuke, whom I don't particularly like.

My clan's known for using blades, and every blade is different. My sister-who's name is Sora Kureno- uses a knife, and I will get my blade the day I graduate the Academy.

I've gathered this information from my sister, telling her that she gave me a bad concussion and I lost a bunch of memories. I insisted on learning as much as I could before she'd take me to the hospital.

After about four hours of treatment I was fixed up and ready to go. Honestly, the medicine in Naruto was amazing. Also, I didn't actually have a concussion. So there's that too.

* * *

The next day, I was at the academy. I walked over, and I sat next to Naruto, being everyone else was avoiding him as usual. Either because their parents were afraid of him and told their kids to stay away, or because they found Naruto annoying.

Naruto Uzumaki had blue eyes and blond hair. He was wearing an orange jump suit with blue shoulders. He was kinda short, an inch or so shorter than I.

For a moment, he was silent.

"What are you doing?" He asked. "Are you sitting next to me to make fun of me?"

"No, I'm not going to make fun of you."

"Well... why are you here?"

"You don't have many friends, do you?"

"So you _are_ here to make fun of me."

"No... that's not what I meant." Damn, I forgot how hard it was to make friends. Don't get me wrong, I have a bunch of friends. But I don't remember how we became friends, it just sort of... happened. All my friends and I just clicked. I've never been the best person at making first impressions. I've very impulsive, and I do whatever comes up in my head.

"What do you mean, then?"

"Hmm, I suppose I should get right to the point before I make myself look even more like an idiot. I want to be your friend." I'm a freaking genius. An expert at conversing with fellow humans. Ugh.... I hate myself.

He sat there staring at me.

"What do you say?" I asked.

"I think you're making fun of me."

I sighed. "I'm not making fun of you, Naruto."

"You know my name?"

"We're in the same class..."

"Oh, yeah... But... uh... I didn't catch your name."

"Genji Kureno." It was at that moment when I realized something. I realized that I was beginning to make plans for the future as if I wasn't going to go back to my real life. But was I going to go back to real life? How would I? Well the question is... how did I get here in the first place? If I did go back, it'd likely be the same way. Damn, if only I knew how I got here.

"Are you alright? You started staring off into space for a minute." Naruto looked concerned.

"I should be fine..." I blinked. I needed to be prepared for staying here for the rest of my life. If I didn't prepare, then I might get killed. "So anyway... how's it going, Naruto?"

"I'm pretty good, how are you?"

Ugh. This conversation is so boring. "I'm pretty decent, I suppose."

Iruka Umino-sensei came in, interrupting our boring conversation. Oh, darn. I was really looking forwards to seeing where this boring conversation would lead to. If you couldn't tell... I was being sarcastic.

Iruka-sensei was wearing a short blue sleeved shirt, with a green flak jacket. He had brown hair, and a scar running across his nose.

* * *

When in class I can normally pay attention. But if I don't like the teacher, it becomes harder for me to pay attention. But jeez. Iruka-sensei is so _boring_.

So I pretty much just zoned out the entire time. Probably not exactly the best plan, but hey. Anything important they explained to Naruto for the fans. So I should know most of the important stuff. Wait a minute... if back in my reality, I thought that this was an anime, but I got stuck in the anime does that mean that the Naruto Verse is reality, as well? I thought reality only referred to one universe? Does that mean they're the same reality, or different realities? Confusing.

But either way... nothing else important happens for quite some time- aside from Naruto and I becoming closer friends- so I'm just going to skip to the graduation exam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1 Notes: *What I mean by this is in some subs they'll refer to Naruto's signature move as Kage Bushin no Jutsu, and in the manga they refer to it as Shadow Doppelganger Technique, whereas the dub calls it Shadow Clone Jutsu. If someone uses a technique they'll have the dub name for it, but I'll put the manga and Japanese translation to it so everyone knows what I'm talking about.
> 
> Also, I was troubled with honorifics. In real life I referred to all of my superiors with honorifics. Mister Teacher, Mrs. Teacher, ext. But when referring to fictional characters, I'd just call them by their name, such as Kakashi, and Guy. Being as in this universe they are real and they would be the main character's superiors- I will be referring to everyone with honorifics, even outside of dialogue.
> 
> Thank you for reading the first episode of my story. Next episode, I'm going to start reviewing anime. I didn't want to start reviewing anime until the second chapter, for some reason.
> 
> Anything with an asterisk means I have something to explain in the notes category, which I just included at the end of a chapter on Fanfiction. It's quite useful to have a section for it. Anything with a horizontal line means there was a lapse in time. 
> 
> Anyway, this is my first ever long running story on Archive Of Our Own, so if I screwed something up, let me know. I'm known as Hungry Derp on Fanfiction, in case anyone was curious.


	2. Class and Weapons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally receiving his weapons, Genji sets off to meet his squad. Genji thinks of all the people he might wind up with, debating on if they'd be good or bad as teammates.

Episode 2: Class and Weapons

I was waiting in the classroom to get called back for the test. A lot of the other students were nervous. I tend not to get nervous about such things, but I do get nervous when I'm in front of a whole bunch of people. People are scary in groups, don't judge me.

So as I waited a made pointless conversation with Naruto. Waiting was such a waste of time.

After Naruto got called out, I moved over and sat next to Shikamaru because I didn't feel like talking to anyone.

Whenever Naruto wasn't around or I got bothered by him being annoying, I'd go and sit next to Shikamaru. We have an unsaid agreement to where neither of us will talk, but we'll be right next to each other. How this benefits me is that I'm not normally a huge fan of conversation and I normally try to get conversations over as soon as possible- without bluntly stating that I got bored of the conversation. And how it suits Shikamaru is that he doesn't like people either, but some times people will sit next to him and try to start a conversation. People can't sit next to us if we're beside each other. A win-win, am I right?

Oh yeah, and Choji was there too. I sat between the two, and the Akimichi would give me some chips occasionally. Today was not one of those times. When he gets nervous, he eats faster-thus making it impossible for him to share. I don't mind, though. Choji was wearing a green jacket with a white undershirt with the kanji for food on it- because it's in the dub I can read the Japanese words for some reason. Choji had brown hair, and black eyes.

* * *

Choji went up, and then Sasuke sat next to us. Good, another stoic shinobi. Honestly, I'm not sure what order Iruka was taking people in. Sasuke was wearing a blue jacket with the Uchiha crest on the back- which looked like a ping pong paddle. He was wearing white shorts. He had black hair, with a hint of blue. He also had black eyes.

* * *

Finally, I'm up. I walked into the room, and I instantly felt more tired, as if I just woke up or didn't get enough sleep the night before.

But I pushed through, and I made the correct hand signs (hand seals), and I created four clones-not shadow clones, just standard clones. So of course, I passed. They handed me a headband, and I went home. My parents were never home as I got home, because of their ninja work. My sister was home, however. She was up in her room, I think.

I went into the bathroom, and I looked at my reflection.

I had blue/green eyes, and eye length dark brown hair with a few hints of blond here and there. The blond clashed with the brown, making it look grey- which made people think I was older than I really am. I was wearing a grey uniform, with black stripes. It was much like that of my sister, however our colors contrasted. I tied my headband around my forehead. I untied it, and then tied it around my neck like Hinata. I untied that as well, then I tied it around my shoulder, like Shikamaru. No, that didn't feel right either. I tried to tie it around my waist like Rock Lee or Ino, but no, it was too short. They must've requested longer headbands.

I gripped my headband in my hand, and looked at it. Where am I going to put this stupid thing? I need to figure out where to put this thing before tomorrow. Whatever, I'll figure it out.

I came out of the bathroom, and went over to my room. As I was walking to my room, Sora's door flew open- nearly hitting me, but I was fast enough to catch it. I had quick reflexes back in the real world, because I was really flinchy for some reason. In this world I was less flinchy, but I still had fast reflexes.

"Ah, so you're back. You're going to go and get your weapon tonight. Where is your headband?"

I took it from my pocket, and showed it to her.

"Good, good. I didn't doubt for a minute that you passed."

I nodded. "Thanks, Sora. Can you tell me about the weapon thing?"

"Nope. I'm not allowed." She smiled at me. "Later." She closed her door.

* * *

Later that night, my parents got home. My door was thrown open, and my mother was standing there. "Did you pass?" She was wearing a black uniform with grey sleeves, and she had grey pant legs. She had black hair, that came down to her shoulder blades and hazel eyes.

I nodded, and I showed her my headband.

She smiled. "Awesome. Let's go!"

The weapon side of the family comes from my mom's side. My father's side of the family is known for their Earth Style Jutsu. My parents were friends as children, and their clans were relatively close so to show peace they were forced to be married. Not that they cared, they were going to get married either way.

My father gave an approving nod to me as I followed my mother out the door. My father had short blond hair, dyed black. The black dye was wearing out, revealing his blond roots. My mother said that he hated that his hair had a feminine color, so he dyed it. He was wearing a red uniform with black accents. Now that I think about it, my father never spoke, at least not in my presence. How strange.

* * *

After nearly an hour of walking through the village, she stopped in front of a building. She took a bandanna from her pocket. "I'm going to tie this around your eyes so you can't see."

I nodded. I decided not to question the weird customs of my clan or the Leaf Village.

She put her hands on my shoulders, and then showed me into the building.

"Activate your chakra." She ordered.

So I did. And nearly as soon as I activated it, something hit me in the face and knocked me over on the ground. I groaned, when I realized what happened. "What the heck?" I asked. I went to lift the bandanna out of impulse.

"Don't lift it!" She yelled.

I stopped.

"Come on, let's go." She said as she helped me to my feet.

As we walked out, she undid the bandanna.

"So why did I do that? Just to get hit the face?"

"Turn around."

I turned, and I saw that she was holding a katana. The sheath was grey, and the guard was black in a rectangular shape. The handle was wrapped with a black and red fabric, which was wrapped in a way to make diamond.

"That's a nice looking sword." I said.

"It is yours. Take it."

I nodded, taking the blade. I examined it, and I found that the butt of the weapon had a leaf engraved into it. I unsheathed it, and I found the strangest thing.

"Umm, Mom. The blade is on the wrong side."

"Huh." She said. "I haven't seen a sword like this in a while."

I was about to say something, and then there was a thud from inside the building.

"Stay right here." My mother told me. She went into the building, and came back out a minute later. She was holding an all black straight sword, slightly longer than a katana. It looked much like a katana, aside from the differences already stated. It had an oval guard. It also had a leaf engraved onto the butt of the weapon. This sword was a Chinese jian.

Under closer inspection, I realized that there wasn't a sheath at all- it was an all lead weapon, sort of like a police baton. So there wasn't a blade on it.

"Awesome. Can I get a redo?"

"There are no redos. These are your swords until the day you die."

So I have two swords that can't cut people. And I'm going up against people who can breath fire. Terrific.

"You will know exactly how to use them. It will come naturally to you."

"Why's that?"

"When you activated your chakra, the swords that were closest to your chakra signature came towards you. The one with the oval handle got stuck behind another one so it was delayed when hitting the ground."

"So what was the point of putting the bandanna around my eyes?"

"A tradition. It was supposed to freak you out."

* * *

So later I was examining the blade of the reversed blade sword. I should give them names, so I don't need to refer to them as the oval handled sword and the rectangle handled sword. The reversed blade sword is like the one from Rurouni Kenshin, so I could call it Kenshin, or Himura. No, that sound stupid. His sword was called Sakabato, so I'll call it that.

As for my other sword, I could name it Zapato, after Zanza's sword that Kenshin broke. Or I could name it Zangetsu after Ichigo's sword from Bleach. No, that won't do. I could name it after Creed's sword in Black Cat. It's called Imagine Blade, I can imagine that my sword has a blade. Imagine Blade it is.

* * *

The next day, I walked into the classroom. I had my swords at my right hip (being left handed), and they were held there with my headband, which I had tied to my belt loop.

"Where'd you get those swords, Genji?" Naruto asked.

"I got them from my clan."

I took my swords from my side and put them up on the table as I sat down. It would've been difficult to sit down with them. Naruto sat down next to me.

"Awesome, so you dual wield?"

"No. These weapons aren't made to be used in conjunction with each other." Where did I get that from? "This sword is a reversed blade sword, so I don't have the risk of killing people. However if the foe is strong enough I can turn the blade around, and then I can cut them. With my other sword, it's a one handed weapon. Because it's designed like a wooden sword, there is no blade. So I can hold my hand where ever I need to on it."

"Awesome." Naruto nodded admiringly. "I hope we end up on the same squad so I can see you in action with your blade!"

"I would like to be on your squad as well." But who would I replace? Useless chick, or emo boy? If I replace useless chick... well... then I could just stand around all day. Because she didn't do anything that forwarded the plot- so all I'd have to do is pretend to be in love with Sasuke then make Naruto promise me to rescue him during the beginning of Sasuke Retrieval. Hmm, but I'm not gay and I don't think it'd be very convincing because I hate Sasuke's guts. But if I replaced emo boy... then I'd have to do all the stuff he did, pushing Naruto to become stronger and such.

I wouldn't be able to replace anyone from Team Asuma, that's a shame because Asuma's a cool guy. Don't get me wrong, Ino's as useless as Sakura. But it's Ino-Shika-Cho Formation. It wasn't a coincidence that they were formed, they had to be formed on purpose. Then with Team Kurenai... I could replace Kiba- but I'm not a tracker ninja. I could replace Shino, but I'm not rival-y with Kiba, so it'd make the balance of the squad weird. And with Hinata, I'm not a sensory type ninja so my teammates might get injured.

Then again... I think it'd be a better idea if I was on a completely new squad.

"What kind of Jutsu did you pull out of the lucky hat?" I asked Naruto.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu. (Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, or Shadow Doppelgänger Technique)" He grinned, and readied to make a hand sign.

"Wait-" I said. "Unlike me, no one knows your jutsu. With my swords, it's obvious what kind of technique I'd use. But a ninja can't just reveal his technique to anyone that might betray him. You must be careful."

"No one here would betray us, Genji. You're being too cautious. But sure."

We waiting for Iruka to show up, and he did. He gave us a small speech that I wasn't really listening to.

"I will now announce the squads. Squad Seven; Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha. Squad Eight; Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. Squad Nine; Genji Kureno, Rukuto Taichi, and Kaori Tendo. Squad Ten; Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi."

So I was on a new Squad. But what about Rock Lee's squad? I took their number... Maybe they're Squad Six in this universe. Probably. I hope I didn't replace them completely. I don't care about Tenten, but Lee, Neji, and Guy are cool.

But I don't know who either Rukuto or Kaori are... but I guess I never paid close attention to my classmates anyway.

I'm going to hang out with Team Asuma during lunch. Hopefully Ino doesn't freak out on me. Hmm, she probably will. Oh well, I guess it'll be worth it because Choji and Shikamaru are pretty cool. I wish Asuma was my teacher. He's awesome. Kurenai seemed alright, but she didn't get enough screen time to tell what her training methods were. And then there's also Kakashi. He's alright, but as a teacher he's lacking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 Notes:
> 
> Bamboo Blade:
> 
> Description: A Kendo instructor falls short in the money department. His old friend challenges his team to a match. If he wins, then he's allowed free meals at a restaurant. He quickly searches for more girls for his team, so he can get to the necessary five. Eventually he finds Tamaki Kawazoe, a short girl with insane skill in Kendo. However, she refuses. One of the boys who joined suggests that she thinks Kendo is more like a chore to do at home than something to actually have fun with. Less than thirty episodes.
> 
> Genres: Shonen, Sports, School, slice of life, tournament, and light comedy.
> 
> Good: I like a lot of the characters (Saya, Kirino, and Azuma are my favorites in my particular order). The fight scenes are pretty interesting to watch, although they are short, true to the nature of Kendo in real life. The dub is also really good, especially for Funimation. The art and animation are pretty good.*
> 
> *I've never heard of the studio before- it's called Anime International Company Inc. or AIC. I have seen a few of the shows that they've done before, being Gun Sword and My Bride is a Mermaid. The first of the two is pretty good, however the second one I didn't really like. If there was anything good about it, though, it'd be the art and animation.
> 
> Bad: The two main male characters in the show don't really do much, aside from spar with each other and sit on the sidelines.* Danjuro is really annoying and I dislike his character quite a bit. Watching Danjuro and Miyazaki talk to each other is also really annoying.**
> 
> *To explain what I mean, a kendo team means five people. The guys only have two, meaning they don't have a full team. However, they do enter singular tournaments. But the only time they are shown fighting is against each other. And the one guy was said to get pretty high in the rankings, it's a shame that they didn't bother to show his fights. Also, if I was more informed about Kendo, I'd write a fanfiction about more male characters joining the team. Alas, I don't have anywhere to learn Kendo from and I don't want to say I know it from reading about it on the internet. 
> 
> **I freaking get it, dawg, they like each other. Move on already!
> 
> Final Thoughts: I ranked it in the good category. It's also on VRV- so you should check that out. (Categories are top ten, good, okay, sub-par, and bad. All pretty self explanatory.)


	3. Squads and Squads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Genji finally meets his squadmates for the first time. There is something about Rukuto... that... no... nevermind.

Episode 3: Squads and Squads

Ino was leaned up against the guard railing. Choji and Shikamaru were sitting on the ground. I was standing between Choji and Shikamaru, and we were sitting across from Ino. Ino was wearing a purple uniform with white bandages around her waist along with her headband. She had blond hair and blue eyes.

"I'm going to have to lead us! That's the only way it'll work!" Ino clenched her fists.

"Yeah, yeah." Shikamaru said.

"Why don't you _lead _us to a barbecue, Ino?" Choji laughed whilst eating his chips.__

____

"Hopeless!" Ino sighed. "Why are you here, anyway?" She growled at me.

As calmly as I could, I looked up at her. But before I could talk, Shikamaru interrupted.

"Leave him alone, Ino. He's not hurting anything."

Surprising. I didn't think Shikamaru would do that, Choji'd have a higher chance of doing that than Shikamaru.

"Well he could be trying to learn our squad's teamwork! He's trying to spy on us!"

"I am not trying to spy on you." I said without a shred of anger in my voice. Don't get me wrong, I don't like Ino. But I tend to be polite to my peers. Wait, would these guys technically be considered my peers? I'd be nineteen in real life, but in this universe I'm twelve.

DAMN, NINETEEN! Good thing I became an eight year old. I wouldn't want to be nineteen in real life because then I'd have to actually do something with my life. But in the Naruto Universe I could just run around and be a ninja. Sorry, I tend to get distracted and go on long tangents for no reason whatsoever. Hopefully no one forgot what happened last in the actual story.

Ino made a face. She caught herself after getting thrown off by my politeness. "But what motive do you have for being here? What do you get out of it?"

"Shikamaru and Choji are my friends. I like to be around my friends."

"Fair enough." Ino nodded. "Where is your headband, by the way?"

He turned, showing her my headband that I had tied around my swords.

I then remembered that Naruto was going to do something dumb in front of these guys. So I nodded to them. "Pleasure talking with you, Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino. But I must be off."

I walked down, and then I walked around. I eventually found Kiba's squad. This squad doesn't have any people that I don't like. Hinata and Kiba are cool, and Shino and Kurenai are alright.

Hinata was wearing a caramel jacket. She had white eyes with a hint of lavender, and she had short blue hair that almost went down to her shoulders. Kiba was wearing a grey jacket with black fur in it. He had brown hair, and green eyes. He had a white dog (Akamaru) sitting on his head. Shino had brown hair and he had a pair of black sunglasses covering his eyes. He was wearing a green jacket.

"Hey, Genji." Hinata waved to me.

I nodded my head to her, slightly smiling. I shook hands with Kiba.

"Hey, Genji..." He seems surprised by the fact that I was talking to them.

I offered my hand to Shino, figuring that he wouldn't take it. And sure enough, he didn't. I retracted my hand, and then I put my hands in my pockets.

"How are you?" Hinata asked.

"I'm alright. Thanks for asking. What about you guys?"

"I'm pretty good." Kiba scratched his chin. "But what are ya doing?"

"Just walking around. I don't know who either of my squad mates are, so I was just talking to Squad Ten, but I bored so I left."

I better leave before I over stay my welcome.

"I guess I'll be off then. Later." I waved to them, and walked away.

"Why were you so friendly with that guy, Hinata?" Asked Kiba. He said something else, but I couldn't hear it.

"Because he's friends with Naruto..." Hinata answered.

After that, I was out of range. I couldn't care less about what they were saying, actually.

So I went back to the class room, and I waited there.

* * *

After a while, everyone else started coming back into the room. Shikamaru and Choji sat at each of my sides. Team Asuma and Team Kurenai were taken by their teachers at the same time.

"See ya, Shikamaru." I said.

Shikamaru nodded to me.

* * *

A few minutes later someone came to my classroom, and asked for my squad. So I went. I knuckle bumped Naruto on my way out.

* * *

My teacher took us to a small building, and we were sitting on the roof.

Our teacher had spiky red hair, and tired green eyes. He was wearing a white gi, with a black belt. He had the kanji for lion on his back, 獅. And he had kanji tattooed on the back of his hands. On his right he had 技 which meant skill. On his left he had 福 which meant luck. He had a pistol at each of his sides. He had a blood red headband, tied around his forehead- he was using it to keep his hair spiked.

"My name is Hitoshi Akiyama. I am going to be your sensei. I don't really care what you call me, but if someone else shows up you better use honorifics or they might get mad at you. Everyone introduce yourselves." He spoke almost like he didn't want to be here. He pointed to me.

"I am Genji Kureno."

"You." He pointed to the other guy.

"My name is Rukuto Tanaka." The other guy said. He had brown eyes, and black hair. He looked some what familiar... but I'm not sure how he does... It's probably nothing. He was wearing an orange long sleeved shirt with a popped collar. He was wearing black pants. He had his headband like a normal person.

"You." He pointed to the girl.

She smiled. "Kaori Tendo." She had light brown hair, and green eyes. She had her hair braided behind her head. She was wearing a black tank-top, and blue pants. She had a short purple scarf tied around her neck- like Mashiro from Bleach-when she was in the Soul Society. She had her headband tied around her thigh.

"Alright, tomorrow we're going to have a test. Come back here at eight tomorrow. See you then." He did a backflip off the building.

"We should work on our teamwork before we take the test." I suggested.

"I agree that teamwork is important, but I think it'll come easier off the fly than it would if we planned it out." Rukuto replied.

"We don't have much time to prepare, so I think training right now would do more harm than good." Pointed out Kaori.

"Alright, then no training." I said. "Let's all head home then."

Rukuto nodded. "See ya." He made a hand sign, and disappeared. I felt a wind fly passed my side.

"Strange." Kaori turned to me. "Well, see ya." She walked away.

I guess trying to iron out our teamwork isn't going to happen.

`As I walked into my Clan's Compound, I came across my second cousin. He had red hair, and blue/green eyes. He was wearing black pants, and a red T-shirt. He had an extra weapon pouch. His name was Jiro.

"So you finally got you weapons, eh Genji?" He grinned.

"Yes, I got my weapons."

"What do you say we fight? See who's stronger."

"Pass."

"Come on, man." He made a face. "It'll be a good fight!"

"You're a Chunin. I'm a Genin."

"Just because I'm ranked higher than you doesn't mean that I'm better than you. The only way to determine that is with a duel!"

"I'm not going to fight you, Jiro."

"Bro." Jiro made a weird face. "You gotta do it."

I sighed. There was no way I could avoid this. "Alright, I'll duel you once we're the same rank."

"AWESOME!"

"But if you continue mentioning it- it's off."

"Alright!" He clenched his fists, and he flexed his arms. "Don't forget!" He then took off.

I sighed, and then I went back to my house. Yet another thing to look forward to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fruits Basket/Furutsu Basuketto abbreviated as Furuba or Fruba:  
> Description: A show about a young woman named Tohru Honda who lost her mother in an accident. She was supposed to live with one of her relatives, but his house was getting renevated. He tried to make sure that she had a place to stay and go to school, but she said she was staying with a friend. Despite what she said, she was actually living in a tent in the woods. Yuki Soma, one of her classmates classmate, found out, and took care of her when she was sick. She went to go back to her tent, finding it crushed by a land slide. Yuki's cousin, Shigure, says that she could live with them. She decides to move in with them, at the cost of taking care of chores around the house. Less than thirty episodes.  
> The only downside is when another of the Soma shows up, named Kyo and begins to fight Yuki, destroying part of the house in the process. In an effort to stop the two, Honda winds up wrapping her arms around both of them. She finds out a secret of the Soma family is that thirteen of them transform into an animal from the Chinese Zodiac when getting hugged by the opposite sex.  
> Genres: Shojo, light martial arts, light magic (nothing too over the top, just the aforementioned animal transformation and a character who can wipe people's memories), hints of romance, slice of life, and comedy.  
> Good: I like a good majority of the characters (Hatsuharu, Shigure, and Kyo are my favorites in that order). I think the transforming into animals when hugged by the opposite gender is a pretty unique spin on the classic animal transformation. It's art and animation are really good (it's done by Studio Deen, which also does Ranma 1/2, Rurouni Kenshin, and Read or Die.*)  
> *Deen was founded by Sunrise, which is the company that does Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, and Gundam.  
> Bad: In the dub, the voice acting is pretty weird on occasion. For example, the voice actor for the Ritsu was annoying at best and laughably bad at worst. There are a few characters that I absolutely can't stand (being Hiro, Akito, and anyone from the Yuki Fan Club). A few of the characters are kind of one dimensional, and a few don't have any stated motivations.  
> Final Thoughts: I ranked it in the good category. It's worth checking it. It's not a battle shonen, which is what I normally review. This is a shojo with light martial arts here and there. I considered writing a Fanfiction about this show, but making it into a martial arts series. The show also only covers part of the manga, and changes some of the events.


	4. Tests and Teamwork

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Genji has meet his squad, it's up to the three Genin to pass their master's exams. If not, they'll be booted back to the Academy. Or even worse, they could be dropped from the program all together.

Episode 4: Tests and Teamwork

I made it to the meet up spot, ten minutes before we were supposed to meet up. Hitoshi-sensei and Rukuto were there, for an unspecified amount of time. Kaori made it directly on time.

"Alright, follow me." Hitoshi-sensei looked around.

* * *

He took us to a small clearing inside of the forest that surrounds the Hidden Leaf.

There was a bunch of obstacles and things in the area. The obstacles included things that resembled car tires, an enormous wall, a massive horizontal bar directly in front of the three of us Genin, and several other things.

"All three of you must get across this obstacle course to pass. You cannot go around it, or all of you will be disqualified. You can use any techniques you want. I'm going to send Shadow Clones at you- you must destroy or avoid the shadow clones." Hitoshi-sensei leapt straight up into the air, gathered his chakra at his hand and his hand hit a tree and pushed himself off- then he leapt over the entire course.

Hitoshi-sensei made a hand sign, and then around fifty Shadow Clones appeared.

"You may start." Hitoshi-sensei called.

The first obstacle was a waist high metal bar.

I grabbed the bar with both hands, and flipped myself over it. I almost knocked my swords off, but I managed to avoid catching on the bar with them.

Rukuto grabbed the bar with one hand, and he leapt over.

Kaori jumped over the bar effortlessly. The next obstacle was a rather large wooden tower that had three ropes dangling from them. The three of us began to climb the rope. No sweat, considering we were trained ninjas. As me made it up there, we realized a Shadow Clone waited for us.

He palmed Rukuto in the chest, and knocked him off the side.

"RUKUTO!" I cried. I grabbed his wrist before he could fall all the way off. The clone kicked me in the side, and then I drew my Imagine Blade and swung it at him. He dodged it, and Kaori punched him in the liver, and he disappeared.

I dropped the Imagine Blade-not off the side course, just on the ground- so I could use both hands to pull Rukuto up. As I struggled helped pick him up.

"Thanks you two." Rukuto nodded.

Suddenly a clone appeared out of no where, kicking Kaori in the side- knocking her off the side of the building. She flipped and landed on her feet but the clone put Kaori in a headlock, and dragged her into a small mass of Shadow Clones. The clones massed around her.

"We'll never make it in time to save her." Rukuto said.

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"Well, you're strong. So you throw me towards them. I'll hold down the fort, until you catch up."

"Are you sure?" Honestly I didn't know if he was joking or not. He didn't seem like he was joking.

He grinned. "Do it."

Jeez, why is this guy so familiar. Oh well. I grabbed him by the front of the shirt and hurled him off the tower as far as I could. Which to be honest with you, wouldn't have been very far if we weren't so high up.

As he was falling he made several hand signs.

He said something, but I couldn't hear him. He glowed very bright for a second, and I had to look away. When I looked back, he was gone. He reappeared a second later, right next to the mass of clones. I grabbed my Imagine Blade, and I jumped off the tower, and I landed on the ground. Which hurt, but I didn't break any bones.

I put the Imagine Blade back at my hip. I then ran to the clearing where my comrades were fighting the clones. Much better considering that it wasn't just Kaori or just Rukuto.

I gripped Sakabato with both hands, and I slashed a clone across the back, making him disappear.

"Good to see ya, Genji!" Called Rukuto punching a clone in the chest that had his right arm. Another clone tried to attack him, but I slashed it across the shoulder, making it disappear.

Kaori clenched her jaw, and and punched a clone in the face with a lightning fast punch. She then turned towards me and punched at my head- or so I thought. She punched passed my head and punched a clone that was about to attack me.

Rukuto, Kaori, and I backed into a circle. I gripped my sword tighter.

"See?" Kaori asked. "I knew we didn't need to train last night."

Each of us darted forwards, taking out several clones. I took my clones out by turning my Sakabato backwards, and slashed at them with the blade. Turning it backwards made the swing strange, but I could get the job done. Rukuto took out his clones by gathering lightning chakra at his fists like boxing gloves, and he punching them. Kaori punching at her foes as well, using her crazy fast punches and kicks.

Suddenly all of the Shadow Clones disappeared with a poof.

Our sensei -I forgot his name, opps- walked towards us. This must have been the real one.

I sheathed Sakabato, and I drew the Imagine Blade- holding it with my dominate left hand, and my right hand went for a kunai.

Kaori stepped to my side, clenching her fists. Rukuto was standing at my other side, and he readied to make a hand sign.

"Hitoshi-sensei." Called Rukuto. "Is the exercise complete, or are we to fight you?"

"The exercise is over. You all pass."

I smiled. Rukuto nodded aporovingly. Kaori's smiled, and punched her fist in the air. "Yes!"

I sheathed the Imagine Blade, and I allowed my hands to fall to my side.

"Just so you know..." Hitoshi-sensei stated. "I was holding back quite a bit of power. And my clones aren't as durable as I am."

Kaori was about to say something, but Hitoshi-sensei, unintentionally or intentionally it's hard to tell, interrupted her.

"Being as we're officially a squad, tomorrow we're going to get to know each other better. Meet up here at the same time." He jetted off.

Rukuto waved. "See ya." He walked away.

I nodded, and took my leave.

 

As I was walking home, I encountered Rukuto.

"Hey, Genji. Follow me."

I looked over to my road, then I turned back over to him. I sighed, and I followed him.

 

After a while of walking down a road to no where, Rukuto looked around. Was he seeing if anyone else was here? There wasn't anyone else. So he turned around and looked me in the eye.

"Is that you Nanashi Starrk?" He said my name. That was my name before I became Genji.

"SamuraiBuddha?" I responded.*

"So it is you." Rukuto nodded. "I thought so."

SamuraiBuddha... was my older brother in real life. That's why he looked so familiar. Damn it, I should have figured it out. Why didn't I figure it out before hand? Probably because it was a really low chance of him following me to the same different universe.

"So is that you, Nanashi?" He asked, just to make sure.

"Yeah... How the heck did you get here?"

"I went looking for you. The next thing I know, I'm here. I've been looking for you for a while, having a hunch that you were here."

"Thanks, Samurai..."

"But, Nanashi. Did you talk to any of the main characters in Naruto?"

"So what if I did?"

"Answer the damn question."

"Yeah, I became friends with Naruto."

"You idiot!" He shook his head. "By doing that you effected the plot of Naruto. Naruto might get killed in his battle with Sasuke in the Valley of the End."

"What? All I did was become friends with him."

"Exactly. The reason why he fought so well against Sasuke was because Sasuke was his first friend. If Sasuke wasn't his first friend, then it could effect the outcome of the battle. You'll need to go with Naruto there, so you keep him from dying. You can't do anything else, like this again."

"Right, I guess I'll need to help him. This is a giant mess, ya know? The reason Naruto fought so hard in almost any of his battles is because he was alone. Against Zabuza, Haku, Kiba, Neji, Gaara, Kimimoro, and Sasuke... I can't believe I screwed all those battles up."

I have always been impulsive. I make decisions without thinking almost exclusively. Sometimes they turned out good, other times not so good and I paid the price. Though I've always got lucky and avoided getting into serious trouble. Maybe not this time, though.

"There isn't much you can do about Zabuza and Haku, but they didn't want to kill them in the first place, so all we can do is hope none of Team Seven gets killed. With Kiba and Neji you can cheer him on. Gaara, Kimimoro, and Sasuke... you're going to need to fight with Naruto."

"Right. Thanks, Samurai."

"We need to address each other by our Japanese names. If we don't... I don't really know. But we need to."

"Yeah." I looked around. "So what's your story? What clan are you from? What Jutsu do you have?"

He frowned. He must not've liked his new life very much. Probably wasn't very fun one. "That's a long story. Tomorrow we're going to exchange stories, though. Don't mention this conversation to anyone, alright Genji?"

"I wasn't going to."

"I'm sure you weren't." He said sarcastically.

"Shut up." I put my hands in my pockets, and stalked off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: *I will not be revealing our actual names, you can use your imagination for our names if you wish. By the way, Samurai Buddha is his Fanfiction account name. He's more active on Neon Pheonix (Grammatical error on purpose, by the way) nowadays, though.
> 
> Daily Lives of High School Boys/Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou: 
> 
> Description: Tadakuni, Hidenori, and Yoshitake live a normal life. Nothing fancy. Nothing worth noting. This show follows the hammy adventure that the three craft for themselves. They do things that you may or may not have done yourself when you were in High School. It's still hilarious either way. Less than fifteen episodes.  
> Genres: Heavy Comedy, slice of life, school,   
> Good: It's got a kickass opening. The show is pretty funny. The characters all have their own unique comedic style. They use serious humor, which I really enjoy.* They do a good job of countering tropes and cliches of anime. The voice acting (at least from what I can tell) is pretty good.   
> *Other people call it comically serious. It's when the characters are being serious, but the situation their in is funny. Prison School is a good example of this.  
> Bad: It's not dubbed. Some times it's hard to tell a few of the side characters apart.** It's not nearly long enough, at only twelve episodes there wasn't enough time to get fully attached to the characters.  
> **Although, it really doesn't matter.  
> Also, there's quite a bit of cultural jokes, some of which I don't get. But I can't really fault the show for me not understanding, so this is going to be in limbo- not in the bad category, but not in the final thoughts category yet.  
> Final Thoughts: I ranked it in the good category. A pretty good show, and it's on VRV. You should check it out, it's only twelve episodes. The episodes are twenty minutes long, but they have around five mini episodes through-out an episode. As in instead of twenty minutes of the same plot, there's shorter scenes that don't usually don't correlate with each other- meaning you can tune into any episode at any point in time and it'd still be funny (I don't recommend that, though). 


	5. Missions and Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Hitoshi gets a mission. This mission is babysitting the Third Hokage's Grandson, who causes all kinds of mischief.

Episode 5: Missions and Trouble

"Everyone's here." Said Hitoshi-sensei. We had formed so we could get a mission. We walked up to the Third Hokage's mansion, and we walked into the room. The Third Hokage examined us. He was wearing his white Hokage uniform, and he had his red hat with a white kanji for fire on it (火).

He examined a few scrolls, and set them off to the side. "I will hire the three of you myself. My grandson needs someone to watch over him, and make sure he doesn't get himself into trouble."

"Yes, Lord Hokage." Said our Sensei. He turned to the three of us. "After we're done with the mission, we are going to talk to each other about ourselves. Share our stories."

Oh boy, Konohamaru. I found Konohamaru really annoying and bratty, but that's what he was supposed to be like- but it makes him completely unlikable and annoying. And now I had to deal with him. At least I'm not alone. I have Samurai- I mean Rukuto with me. As well as our sensei and Kaori.

Soon, we were standing outside the Hokage's Mansion. The Honorable Grandson was standing in front of the door. He had a pair of green goggles on his forehead- in the same manor that Naruto wore them- and he was wearing a yellow shirt with his sleeves rolled up, and he as wearing grey pants. He had a blue scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Hey, you're Naruto's friend right?" He asked me.

"Yes." For a moment, I wondered what I should call him. I know he hated to be called the Honorable Grandson- opps- and he liked to be called by his name. But his name is way too long to write.

"Alright, Chief!" He grinned. "You should train me in the art of the sword!"

"Sorry, but I cannot, Leaf Boy."

"Leaf Boy? Why did you call me that?"

"Konoha literally means leaves. Maru is a common masculine Japanese suffix- so it could be interpreted as boy. So Leaf Boy I will call you."

Leaf Boy grinned. "That's awesome! I've never been given a nickname before!"

I nodded, and smiled at him. "So what do you want to do today?"

"Hmm... we could go out and get some ramen. We could practice our ninja training! Let's practice our ninja training!"

I scratched my forehead. "Alright. Do you know the Clone Jutsu yet?"

"No, not yet. But I think we're going to learn it soon."

"Do you know the Replacement Jutsu?"

"Genji," Rukuto said. "We learned the Replacement Jutsu after the Clone Jutsu."

"Oh." I smiled, slightly embaressed. "So what techniques have you learned?"

"I haven't learned any techniques yet, Chief. But we are learning to be faster!"

"What do you like to do with your friends?"

"Let's play hide and seek!" The Leaf Boy suggested.

"Fine. You can hide first."

He grinned, and he dropped a smoke bomb.

I covered my mouth with my hand to keep inhaling too much smoke. Kaori started coughing, and it seemed that Rukuto was holding his breath.

Hitoshi-sensei turned his back to the smoke. "I assume you guys can handle this. I'll talk to you once the sun has set." He leapt away.

* * *

A few minutes later, the three of us were sprinting across rooftops trying to look for Konohamaru.

"I can't believe we lost him!" Kaori groaned. "Why did you let him run away, Genji?"

"Well, we're ninja. He's just a little kid." I pointed out. "I figured that we should be able to find him quickly. I didn't account that he was lying and could actually use the Transformation Jutsu. Now he could be anywhere."

"Well there's no point in talking about how we need to find him, we just need to find him." Said Rukuto.

The three of us ran in silence for a few minutes.

Rukuto leapt down to the ground, because he saw the Honorable Grandson.

"Alright, Konohamaru." Rukuto said. "It's time to go back."

Leaf Boy smiled. "Yeah, but one problem..." He burst into smoke. He was actually Konohamaru's friend. I forgot his name. I think it was like Mogile or something like that. He had brown hair, and black eyes with large round glasses. He was wearing blue.

"Who exactly are you?" Kaori asked.

"I'm Konohamaru's friend! Udon!" He shouted out. Mogile or whatever must have been the girl's name. Oh well.

I scowled at him. "Where is he?"

He hiccuped. "He went that way!" He pointed to the right.

"You better not be lying. Or I'm coming back." I relaxed my facial muscles, then took off.

"Is it fun for you to scare the crap out of little kids?" Rukuto said as he caught up with me.

"Shut up." I responded.

"No. Don't act like that, it makes you a jerk."

"Whatever."

"Stop copping out of the argument." He glared at me.

"We need to focus on the mission. If we get distracted with every little thing, then we'll never succeed."

"I agree with both of you. Genji you shouldn't have been so mean. But Rukuto, we need to focus on the mission right now." Kaori compromised.

I sighed, but didn't say anything. The three of us continued to run across buildings in silence for several minutes. It doesn't matter that being "mean" got us a hint faster than being nice would have. At least to those two, anyway.

After a few minutes, I saw Udon walking down the street. That was either the Leaf Boy with a Transformation Jutsu, or Udon left to warn the Leaf Boy. Either way, it's good for us. I jumped down, and I grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around.

The child's eyes widened when he saw me. "Oh crap!" He burst into smoke, and he turned back into his real form. It was Konohamaru. "Well you found me, Chief. Okay, it's your turn to hide!"

Kaori and Rukuto landed behind me. "No more playing games." Rukuto said. "This is a mission, we need to keep an eye on you."

The Leaf Boy sighed. "Then what are we going to do?"

Rukuto looked up at the sky. The sun was going to set soon. "The sun is setting, the mission is going to end soon. If we start walking down to the Hokage's office, we might get there a minute or two before the mission actually ends."

"Oh, man!" The Leaf Boy groaned. "I didn't realize I was hiding so long! Sorry I wasted the entire mission! By the way... how did you know it was me?"

"We meant Udon earlier- he was transformed as you." Kaori stated.

He nodded, and smiled. "Pretty good idea, huh?"

"It would have been better if you transformed into some random Leaf Villager. That would have made it a thousand times harder to find you." I pointed out.

"Don't give him any ideas!" Kaori joked.

"Come on, let's start heading back Leaf Boy." I adjusted my swords.

"Okay."

The four of us walked towards the Hokage's office.

* * *

On the way there, we encountered Hitoshi-sensei. "How ninja missions work is he'll give me the money, and I'll divide it to you guys. I won't take any of the money, I didn't do much of anything on this mission."

* * *

"I see that you took care of Konohamaru." The Third said. "Thank you. His babysitter was ill today, so I needed someone else needed to take care of him. Here is your pay." He handed a handful of green bills to Hitoshi-sensei. The money is called Ryo, in the Narutoverse just so you know.

Hitoshi nodded to the Third Hokage. "Thank you, Lord Hokage. We will leave now. We need to discuss a few things as a squad."

The Third nodded. He looked over to Konohamaru, who was standing directly in front of me. "At my side, grandson." He started smoking his pipe. Konohmaru walked behind the desk, and sat next to the Third.

"Good bye, chief." Konohamaru said.

We started to walk away.

"See ya, Leaf Boy." I said while waving without turning around.

"Leaf Boy?" The Third asked Konohamaru. He laughed slightly. "I like it."

* * *

Hitoshi-sensei adjusted the guns that he kept at his hips. Again, I noticed the gloves he had on his hand. One had the Kanji for skill (技), the other had luck (福). Now that I think about it, no one really used guns outside of filler. The filler character that used a gun had the butt of a shotgun attached to a sword- so it wasn't really a gun at all.*

Hitoshi ran his hands through his hair. "My name is Hitoshi Akiyama. My father was a Shinobi, where as my mother was a chef. I became a Shinobi myself, because I wanted to become powerful like my father."

"Is your father famous?" Rukuto asked.

"No. But his name is Saizo Akiyama." He closed his eyes for a second. "I trained with Might Guy when he was a kid."

"You trained with Guy-sensei?" I asked.

"Yes. I was on his squad. Along with Genma Shiranui- who's one of the Chunin Proctors."

I thought Ebisu was on Guy-sensei's squad? Maybe Ebisu is replaced by my sensei. He wasn't super important- but he became Konohamaru's sensei after the timeskip. And he attempts to train Naruto during the Chunin Exams arc, but them Master Jiriaya took over.

Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. Maybe he's still a character, but he just wasn't on Team Choza.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: *I as trying to find more information on this guy, but when I saw pictures of his sword they didn't look like a shotgun at all. Maybe I imagined the whole thing, or maybe it was a completely different character.
> 
> Also, I'm aware Leaf Boy is kind of a stupid nickname. But Konohamaru is a stupid character, so it fits.
> 
> Your Lie in April/Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso abbreviated as Kimiuso:  
> Description: A boy who was formerly a pianist can no longer hear the keys that he plays. Kousei Arima can hear everyone else's music, just not his own. His childhood friend, Tsubaki Sawabe, invites him on a double date with their mutal friend Ryota Watari and a classmate named Kaori Miyazono. Tsubaki tells Kousei that being as he's a musican, if the conversation drops he and Kaori, who's a violinist, can chat about music.  
> Unexpectedly, Kaori forces him to become a pianist once again, by bombarding everything he owns with the notes to the song she wants him to play. Still unable to hear the notes, Kousei struggles to keep up with his former rivals Takeshi Aiza and Emi Igawa.  
> Genres: Music, romance, grief, drama, (light) comedy, school, slice of life,  
> Good: I can really relate to Kousei*. The art and animation are really good.** The music is also pretty nice to listen to. I like the message, warning the watcher to not remain stagnant for too long or your talents/hobbies will go to waste.  
> *At the time I watched the show, I was in a bad writing slump. I couldn't write anything without thinking it was absolutely horrid- and Kousei couldn't hear his music at all. Both of us are more quiet and solitary. Another aspect where we are similar is our calmness. The two of us wear glasses, but that one's kind of a stretch.  
> **It's done by A-1 Pictures, so that's to be expected. That's the same studio who did Seven Deadly Sins, Fairy Tail, Magi, and Blue Exorcist.  
> Bad: I dislike several of the female characters***. The pacing can drag on slower than slow at times. There are several -small- side stories that don't really lead anywhere. Many of the characters are one dimensional (Tsubaki, Watari, Emi, Takeshi, Kashiwagi, Nagi, Hiroko, ext.). Kousei's dad never shows up, almost as if the show needs an excuse for him to be alone all the time.  
> ***The ones that I'm talking about are Tsundere characters. In general, Tsundere leave a bad taste in my mouth. The first ever Tsundere I ever encountered was Sakura from Naruto, so I kinda got off on the wrong foot with them, I suppose. I don't really like the concept of /"I love you so much" *punches them in the face*/ to begin with. It's pretty annoying, if you ask me.  
> Final Thoughts: I ranked it in the okay category. It's on Netflix as well. I know a lot of people who said this show was really good, brilliant even. But I gave it a solid okay.


	6. Backstory and Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter delves into Hitoshi's history with Might Guy, as well as Rukuto's past with Kakashi Hatake.

Episode 6: Backstory and Training

Hitoshi's backstory, Third Person

Hitoshi was walking down a path along with the rest of his team, Genma Shiranui, Might Guy, and Choza Akimichi. Hitoshi had nearly the same spiky red hair, but the one side one more spiked than the other. His eyes were bright green and full of energy, unlike his eyes when he was an adult- which were extremely tired. He was wearing a white gi much like he did as an adult, but he was wearing a black overcoat. He didn't gave his gloves or his guns. His headband was still red, and it was still holding up his hair.

Genma was wearing a baggy black jacket with a red hood. His jacket as open, showing a white T-shirt. His headband protector was a backwards bandanna. He had a medium length-senbon neetde in his mouth.

Guy was wearing a sleeveless-green leotard, and almost his entire arm was wrapped in athletic tape. He had a red scarf around his neck. His headband was tied around his waist like a belt.

Choza was wearing his normal attire, a black armored suit. He had spiky red hair, and purple markings at his cheeks. He had a white hackimaki tied around his head, and a headband was no where to be seen on his person.

"Choza-sensei." Hitoshi called. "Where are we going?"

"I am not your sensei yet, Hitoshi. I still need to give you the Genin test."

"Even if you aren't my sensei yet, you are still a Jonin, and I'm still a Genin. So you are still Choza-sensei because I need to show that you are a higher rank than I am. And you didn't answer my question, sensei."

Choza smiled. "I am taking you to the place that I'm testing you three."

* * *

The four stopped in front of a bridge. "I will test you all individually first, to see if you have enough strength to be a Genin. Then I will test your skill as a squad. First, I will test Guy, then Genma."

* * *

After the other two impressed Choza, Hitoshi was up, and he was quickly knocked down to the ground.

"Has your father taught you nothing? He is a shinobi, isn't he?"

"No, he didn't teach me anything. He said that I needed to learn techniques for myself. I had no idea what I was doing, so I didn't really train right. So I might be weak compared to the other two. But that doesn't mean I will hinder them. I will do everything in my power to have this squad pass..." Hitoshi stood up, and he punched at Choza, who caught his punch.

"You talk big, but you don't have enough muscle to back it up. I've seen enough. It's time to see your ability as a squad."

The three Genin surrounded Choza. Genma charged at him, hurling a senbon at him. Choza drew a kunai and blocked it. He jumped up into the air, and he kicked Genma in the chest, then knocked him back. He turned to see Guy flying at him with a kick. He caught Guy's ankle and threw him off to the side.

Hitoshi charged at him, and punched at his face. "You'll need to work as a team to take me down." Choza explained, and he punched Hitoshi in the forehead knocking him backwards several feet. Choza pulled back his fist for another attack, and he punched at Hitoshi. Genma was just fast enough to tackle him out of the way.

Guy walked over to the other two ninja in training. "We need to work together." Genma said.

"Alright," Hitoshi cracked his knuckles. "I'll be the bait, and you guys take him while he's distracted with me."

"Are you sure?" Guy asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Hitoshi nodded. He charged forwards, Choza punched down at him, but he managed to jump backwards. Choza swung his other fist at him. Guy and Genma charged at both of his sides, Choza smiled.

"Good job, you three. You pass." The three of them fell backwards. "Hitoshi, you need to get stronger. Guy, your attacks are too direct. Genma, stop holding back."

"Yes, sir." Genma put another senbon in his mouth.

Guy nodded. "I'll try, but I don't really know."

"I'll work hard."

Guy turned to Hitoshi. "Hitoshi. Do you want to train with my father and I?"

* * *

A few days later, Hitoshi meant Guy's father, Might Duy. Might Duy's uniform resembled his son, but his his scarf was light orange. He had a mustache, and a goatee. His sideburns were also visible, but not as prominent.

"Dad, can you help train this guy?"

Duy smiled. "Yes."

Hitoshi trained hard with Duy, he trained hard with Guy, and he trained hard by himself. His chakra control aided him, along with his insane determination.

* * *

After a few months, Team Choza was training.

Genma charged at Choza, who punched at him but Genma leapt up into the air and hurled a senbon at him. Choza dodged to the side, to see Guy sweeping his leg. Choza leapt up into the air and dodged the attack.

Hitoshi charged, and he jumped up into the air, and he kicked Choza hard in the chest, knocking him backwards.

"Hey, we won." Genma flipped a senbon around his fingers. He put the senbon back in his weapon holster.

"What the... hell?" Choza stood up. "Hitoshi. You need to learn how to hold back."

* * *

Back in real time, Genji's perspective

"So you became too strong?" I asked.

"Yes. But I was already too far. I couldn't hold back. That's why I created these guns."

"What do the guns do?" Rukuto asked.

"The guns blast bullets of chakra. If I went into battle without them, I would annihilate all my opponents and there wouldn't be anything left."

"Why didn't you just quit training?" I suggested.

"I'm a shinobi, I can't just stop training. I could hold back in training, but it just didn't work. I just kept getting stronger and stronger. With my guns I can't get stronger. I can get more accurate, but a bullet is just as powerful as other bullets of the same caliber."

"I thought you said that they were made of chakra?" I asked.

He drew his gun, and he took the clip off. He showed that there wasn't any bullets. Weird.

"These guns are like your swords. They're fitted to my chakra. I can put my chakra into the gun, and the chakra forms into a bullet." He put the clip back in, and he pointed the gun at the sky. He fired, and there wasn't a loud bang like there was with an actual gun. But I saw a small projectile going flying straight up into the air flying from the weapon.

"I am a Taijutsu specialist." Hitoshi-sensei explained. "I also use these guns. I have great chakra control, and I use Fire Style, and a bit of Earth Style. Now, Rukuto. It's your turn. Tell us your story."

* * *

Rukuto's perspective

Rukuto was sitting in a classroom, along with Rock Lee, Neji Hyuga, Tenten, and several other ninja that were a year older than Naruto's class.

Rukuto was waiting patiently for Iruka to walk in.

After a few minutes, Iruka did. "I will now be announcing your squads. Squad Three will be Akemi Haguro, Kanoko Kubo, and Hitomi Nabashi. Squad Four is; Rukuto Taichi, Yuri Suzumishi, and Kenichi Kazuhito. Squad Five: Neji Hyuga, Tenten, and Rock Lee."

Rukuto smiled.

"After lunch, you're going to meet your sensei. I'm proud of all of you for making it this far, and I hope that you all enjoy your squad."

* * *

After lunch, Might Guy took his squad. The next sensei came and took his squad about ten minutes later.

Half an hour later, Iruka left because he needed to get something else done.

That left Rukuto and his squad. Waiting for almost two hours, they debated on leaving.

"This is a waste of my time." Yuri said. "I'm going to leave if he doesn't show up in five minutes." Yuri had long red hair, and light green eyes. She was wearing a red Kung Fu uniform, with black sleeves. She was standing at the door.

"We can't just leave." Rukuto said. "This is our career on the line. Perhaps our sensei is watching us to see if we break." Rukuto was also standing up, though he was leaning against the opposite wall.

Yuri rolled her eyes. "What do you think, Kenichi?"

Kenichi had eyebrow length black hair, and he was wearing all black trench coat. He had his head down on the desk, and his eyes closed. He didn't respond.

"Great, he's sleeping." She turned back to Rukuto. "Seriously. If this guy wastes the entire day just waiting for us to give up, I'm going to be pissed."

Suddenly, the door opened. A masked man walked in. He had grey hair, and he was wearing a standard Leaf flak jacket with blue sleeves.

"Hello, I'm Kakashi Hatake."

"Why did you take so long to get here?" Rukuto asked, a tinge of anger in his voice.

"A black cat crossed my path. So I needed to take an alternate route."

* * *

The next day, the three ninja in training were standing across from Kakashi, who explained the bell test to them. "You need to get one of these two bells to pass this test. That means one of you will fail. Anyone who fails will be tied to a wooden post, being forced to watch me eat my lunch- and of course anyone who passes."

Rukuto nodded. "The three of us need to work together." He said.

Kenichi looked over at him. "I'm not doing that, you're just going to betray me."

"Genin need to work together!" Rukuto pleaded. "We need to team up on him to beat him! One on one, he's stronger, faster, and smarter than us! But if we fight him three on one... we'll win."

"Silence, Rukuto." Yuri eyed him.

"Start." Kakashi said.

The three of them teleported away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Snow White With the Red Hair/ Akagami no Shirayuki-hime (Season 1): 
> 
> Description: Shirayuki has crimson hair. Usually it only caused minuscule problems for her, but now it has caught the attention of a notorious prince who wants to have her for himself. The girl flees, then encounters a young man named Zen, along with two of his accompanists named Kiki and Mitsuhide. That prince then sends a basket of poisoned apples to Shirayuki's location, which poisons Zen instead. In order to save her new found friend's life, she goes with the prince.  
> Genres: Shojo, romance, historical fantasy,
> 
> Good: The art and animation are really good.* A good majority of the characters are likable. I always have a soft spot for Western-esque anime.** The voice acting is pretty okay. It's sweet enough to immediately give you diabetes upon watching it.
> 
> *Again, they're done by Bones- (Known for Wolf's Rain, Soul Eater, Eureka Seven, and My Hero Academia) so that's pretty much a given.
> 
> **Though, unlike the famous Cowboy Bebop, majority of their names are Asian. However, the castles and stuff are very reminiscent of Historical Europe. As well as Zen weilding a European sword, makes me believe that it was inspired by medieval Europe. Oh yeah. And the title kind of gives it away. (By the way, Shirayuki means Snow White).
> 
> Bad: I would have preferred if there was more fighting in it, though it's a shojo not a shonen- so it's not the show's fault. A few of the main characters is a bit bland. It's pretty annoying how much they bring up Shirayuki's red hair.
> 
> Final Thoughts: I ranked it in the good category. It's a pretty good watch. If none of my opinions change when I watch Season 2, I might mention it, but I won't review it again. Then again, if something does change, I might. On an unrelated note, I watched B Gata H Kei- but I'm not about to review shows that are like that. If you want to know about that show, you'll have to do your own research, lo siento.


	7. Rukuto and Lightning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn more about Rukuto's back story, as well as learning more about Kaori.

Episode 7: Rukuto and Lightning

Kenichi was hiding in a bush. Rukuto had climbed up a tall tree, and he was using the leaves as a cover for him. Yuri was hiding behind one of the wooden posts. Kakashi hadn't moved.

Kenichi suddenly hurled a kunai at Kakashi from behind him. Kakashi easily dodged it without turning around. He threw a shuriken in Kenichi's direction- hitting the tree that was behind him.

 _My cover's blown._ Kenichi thought. He burst from the bush, and he charged at Kakashi, who turned and faced him.

"You won't be able to beat me alone. You should have listened to Rukuto."

Rukuto leapt out of his hiding place, and he charged across the ground. _If he doesn't want to work together, I'll force us to work together._ He thought. He charged towards Kakashi.

"Stop interfering!" Kenichi growled, hurling a kunai at Rukuto. Tachi dodged to the side, then Kakashi kicked Kenichi in the side, knocking him down. Rukuto charged at Kakashi while his back was turned. Kenichi hurled dust into both of their eyes. He reached for a bell, but Kakashi leapt up into the air.

Kakashi sighed. "You can't beat me like that."

"Stay out of my way!" Kenichi ordered. He charged at Kakashi again.

 _I guess I'll just show him._ Rukuto thought.

Kenichi punched at Kakashi's head, but the Jonin easily dodged it. The ninja in training tried to sweep his feet. Kakashi let the attack hit him, but it still didn't effect him. He punched the boy in the forehead, knocking him on the ground.

The Genin hastily crawled backwards, without taking his eyes off of Kakashi.

 _I'll show these boys up..._ Yuri thought. _We won't be able to beat him with normal means. But if I use stealth..._ She made a handsign, and walked forwards.

Kenichi mouthed something, but no sound came. His eyes widened. _What the hell?_ He thought. _I can't talk. Is it something that Kakashi is doing?_

Rukuto tried to tell him that they needed to work together again, but his voice was nonexistent. _What's going on?_ He thought.

Kakashi stepped forwards, and he looked down at his feet. His sandals didn't make a sound when he flattened the grass. _Oh, so it's that technique. Clever._ He thought.

He turned around, to see Yuri walking towards him. Her eyes widened. "Crap..." She mumbled.

"The Sound Bending Technique." Kakashi said. "It only works as long as the user is concentrating. It would have worked too, if you worked together."

The three young shinobi teleported away.

Yuri clenched her jaw. _We can't beat this guy..._ She thought.

"Yuri. We _need_ to work together. We can't beat him alone!" Rukuto said. "I know how Jonin work!"

"And how do you know?"

"...I just know."

"Yeah, just knowing isn't enough for me. Maybe teaming up will be the best option, but he's expecting that. He won't let us win easily."

"But we could still win, if we had your Sound Bending Jutsu, my Lightning Style, and Kenichi's Taijutsu."

"Who fails then?"

"What?"

"Two bells. There's three of us. If both of you go out there, then I'm not getting one of the bells. I'm going to fail."

"Then I'll give you my bell."

"No. You'll just betray me."

"I swear, I won't betray-"

"We're wasting precious time." Yuri walked towards Kakashi.

Yuri began battling with Kakashi, but this time in hand to hand combat.

* * *

"Kenichi." Rukuto said. "We need to work together. We won't be able to win without working together!"

"Even if we did work together, I'm not going to screw over Yuri. I'm going to take one of those bells, and I'm going to do it fairly. You two can compete for the last bell yourself."

* * *

Soon, the squad failed. The three of them were tied to the posts.

"You should have listened to Rukuto." Kakashi said. "Genin should have a natural feel for teamwork. The two of you don't. Rukuto is the only one here that deserves to be a ninja. But he can't be a ninja without a squad. The three of you will need to wait for another squad to show up that will take you. Because you failed. I'm sorry, Rukuto. But this is how life works some times. That doesn't mean you should stop trying. Next time, I promise you'll get a better squad."

Rukuto hung his head.

Current time, Genji's perspective, First Person 

"This time, you guys didn't even need to discuss it. Your teamwork came naturally, as it should have." Hitoshi-sensei pointed out.

"The technique that I use is a Lightning Style Jutsu. It's called Lightning Style: Molecular Destablization. What the technique does is it vibrates my molecules at varying degrees. What this does is it turns whatever part of my body -or even my whole body- into something else. This technique is very risky, if you do it wrong you could end up destroying yourself. Then even if you do it right, your internal organs transform with you. So if you do the technique on your entire body, and you use it for over thirty seconds, your heart will stop and you will die."

"What can you turn into?" I asked.

"I can turn my body to rock, into air, and into liquid. Pretty much just different states of matter."

"Your turn, Kaori." Hitoshi-sensei ordered.

She sighed.

Kaori's backstory, Third Person 

Kaori was sitting in a classroom along with a lot of young shinobi; including Rukuto, Rock Lee, Neji, and Tenten. Iruka walked in. "Okay, class. Today we're going to be talking about the Substitution Jutsu."

She sighed, and put her head down.

"Kaori, put your head up."

She looked up at him. "Sensei... I already know this Jutsu."

"Then why did you fail last year?"

"...Because I didn't know the Clone Jutsu. This is the Substitution Jutsu."

* * *

Kaori was practicing a specific jutsu. She floated in the air successfully, but she fell to her knees. She was standing in a clearing, so that way if she messed up the Jutsu, she wouldn't destroy anything. Again. She smiled slightly.

"What is that technique?" Iruka asked, walking toward her. "How can a Shinobi fly?"

"I wasn't flying. What I did was I used the Manipulating Gravity technique, and I the gravity around myself to float in the air."

"You can preform such a technique but you can't do the Clone Jutsu?"

"I have insomnia. I can sometimes push through and fall asleep, but if I don't then the entire next day is screwed over. I didn't sleep for the entire week we went over the Clone Jutsu."

"I can't make any special adjustments of the class for you. I'm not allowed."

"I know, that's why I didn't tell you. All you would do is worry."

"I could get you private lessons, if you want."

"No. I am just like everyone else, I won't take any other help."

"But I help any other student that needs help."

"Don't worry about me. I'll learn the Jutsu by the end of this year."

"Tell you what... if you are as strong as a Genin, then I'll pass you. If you aren't, you're going to be failed again."

"I told you not to make any exceptions for me."

* * *

Iruka was doing paperwork several months later. He looked sad.

"Iruka." Said a voice.

Iruka turned to see Might Guy. "What do you need, Guy?"

"I want you to pass Rock Lee. I will take him under my wing, and I will make him the strongest shinobi you'll ever see."

Iruka thought for a moment. "I didn't want to make any exceptions, but a student I had made me want to. Her name is Kaori Tendo. She's quite the shinobi, but it saddens me that I only recently realized, so I couldn't change the rules last year."

* * *

Kaori was standing with two other ninja, standing right by a forest. There was a small pond, but that was a ten minute run away from them. Their sensei was standing in front of them. "Alright," he said. "Whoever defeats me passes this test. Only the first person who wins gets to pass, everyone else has to go back to the academy."

Kaori looked at her squadmates. _I'll need to eliminate these guys so they stay out of my way._ She thought.

"Start." Everyone teleported away.

* * *

Kaori was jetting through the forest, searching for the other ninja in training. After a few minutes of searching, she found one of them. She dropped down from the ground, landing right in front of him.

"Kaori." He said. He drew a kunai.

"You're standing between me and my goal." She told him. "I hold no grudge against you, but for being in my way... I will need to take you out." She clenched her fists, and charged at him. She kicked at his lower leg.

He dodged to the side, and slashed at Kaori's throat. He missed, cutting a piece of her hair off instead. He cursed, and ducked under a punch. He jumped backwards and threw the kunai at her. She dodged to the right.

A third shinobi dropped down from a tree, landing on the male shinobi. He struck him hard in the back of the neck, and knocked him down. The newcomer looked up at Kaori. He said nothing as he walked towards her.

She punched at his head, and he punched at her stomach.

Suddenly their sensei was standing between them, grabbing Kaori's wrist, and with his other hand he grabbed the other shinobi's wrist.

"How... did you catch my punch?" Kaori asked.

"I combined my speed, and a bit of chakra to avoid damaging my hand. The three of you have lost. Genin need to work together. Individually, none of you would be able to defeat me. Together, you stand a chance."

"But you said-" Kaori said.

"It doesn't matter what I said. What I'm saying now is that you all lose. Go back to the academy. All three of you."

Back in real time, Genji's perspective, First Person 

"So you were held back twice, huh?" Rukuto smiled.

Her face turned red, and she looked at her feet. "I wasn't held back twice. I was held back once, and I lost once."

Hitoshi-sensei shrugged. "It happens. What is your jutsu?"

"I do Taijutsu, along with my Gravitational Manipulation. My preferred style is Kick Boxing. I am also training to master escrima sticks*."

"Alright, Genji." Hitoshi-sensei said. "Tell us your story."

"Well, there's not much for me to talk about. I wasn't held back and I didn't fail the test, so I can't talk about my old squad."

Rukuto looked away, but he didn't say anything. Kaori closed her eyes, also saying nothing.

"I'm from a clan that's blade oriented and I have a sister. That's pretty much it."

"Then what's your jutsu?" Hitoshi-sensei asked.

"As I said a minute ago, I'm from a clan that uses blades. So I have these swords, that's it. The one is a reverse bladed sword, and the other doesn't have a blade at all- like a wooden sword."

Hitoshi-sensei nodded. "We'll get another mission tomorrow, so everyone be ready for it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: *Escrima- also spelled Eskrima- is also known as Arnis and Kali (you might know it by one of those names). It's a Filipino martial art. It's focused on stick fighting, sword fighting, and unarmed combat. For the sake of simplicity I'm going to spell it escrima, and I'm going to focus on the stick fighting aspect of the art- and when using hand to hand she'll do kick boxing- a martial art that I understand more. But there will be mixed in Escrima techniques.
> 
> Escrima, Arnis, and Kali are often used as an umbrella term, saying that they are all the same- though they are different. How I understand it is Escrima is stick fighting, Arnis is sword fighting, and Kali is free hand combat. If you are informed, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
> 
> Orange: 
> 
> Description: Naho Takamiya's close friend, Kakeru Naruse commits suicide. Ten years into the future, Naho still feels that she could have prevented it somehow. So she writes a letter to her past-self, in order to prevent Kakeru's death. Hiroto Suwa, Takako Chino, Saku Hagita, and Azusa Murasaka try their best to make Kakeru and Naho happy. The friend group attempts to get Naho to admit her feelings to Kakeru, and vice versa.
> 
> Genres: Slice of life, shojo, romance, (light) sci-fi, drama, school, 
> 
> Good: The art and animation are pretty good*. It's pretty emotional, I cried like five times. All of the characters are pretty cool. It focuses on important topics, such as suicide. It's tackles interesting topics such as the parallel worlds theory.** It has an interesting premise, and a good direction.
> 
> *TMS Entertainment Co., Ltd. does this show. It's formerly known as Tokyo Movie Shinsha, and also known as Tokyo Movie or TMS-Kyokuchi. They are owned by Sega Holdings. Anyway, I've never heard of this show. However, I have heard of a few of their shows. Notable titles include Lupin III, Ashita no Joe, Sonic X, and D. Gray-man.
> 
> **The theory that says that any choices that have been made creates a parallel world, each world being from a different choice. It can get pretty ridiculous considering how many choices just one person makes in their life time, let alone every person. Although, it's just a theory, so different people would think about it in different ways.
> 
> Bad: There is one important side character- who gets zero development in the series. Occasionally the pacing can be slow. The beginning of the show has a few events that don't really seem to matter if you think about it, which I'll mention in the spoiler section. A few unimportant characters look kinda goofy with the art style.
> 
> Final Thoughts: I ranked it in the good category. It's on VRV.
> 
> Spoiler section: Those who don't want to be spoiled go back now. Anyway, so Future Naho says that she wants to keep Kakeru alive, as well as preventing a few of her regrets that she holds onto through-out her life. One of the first things Present Naho changes is she participates in a baseball game. Seriously? How is that seriously a regret Naho held onto her entire life? Was that really all that important for Future Naho to mention?


	8. Children and Jutsu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaori gets tired of the childish missions the Hokage gives them, and asks why they're doing those missions.

Episode 8: Children and Jutsu

The squad meet up at the Hokage's office so we could get another mission.

The Third Hokage looked through his scroll. "Hmm... The three of you will convey this package across the village." He handed a small piece of paper to Hitoshi-sensei. "This is the address." He looked over to Iruka, who stood up and walked out of the room.

"Lord Hokage," Kaori said. "With all due respect, these missions are designed for kids with no experience. Hitoshi-sensei, Rukuto, and I are all seasoned ninja. And Genji isn't exactly a pushover himself. We aren't children."

I didn't say anything. Perhaps this is when the Third is going to lecture us like he lectured Naruto- when they got the Land of Waves mission.

Rukuto scratched his neck, and looked up at the ceiling. Hitoshi-sensei pulled one of his guns from his holster, and he took the pieces apart. He cleaned out what little dust there was, and he put it back.

"Ninjas are given missions due to their experience and rank. The three of you are Genin with no actual experience, so you get the lowest missions- D Rank. Chunin get C Rank. A Jonin or a team of Chunin get B Rank. A team of Jonin and Chunin get A Rank. And a team of Jonin get S Rank."

"We do have experience. What do you think I did when I was in the academy an extra year, and when I failed the squad test? Do you think I was sitting around painting my toe nails?"

"The last time I made an exception, three of my Genin faced Zabuza Momoichi- an infamous assassin. They were almost killed. I will not allow another exception."

So they did tell the Hokage about Zabuza. Now that I think about it, I wouldn't see why they wouldn't.

"But-"

Just then, Iruka came back into the room holding a small cardboard box. It was no bigger than a pencil box that a school kid would have. Iruka handed the box to Hitoshi-sensei. By this time, he had cleaned both guns twice.

Hitoshi-sensei handed the paper to Rukuto, and he handed the box to me. The three of us walked out. "Can you three handle this?"

I nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Alright, then I'll take my leave. See ya." He teleported away.

Rukuto looked at the paper and started walking forwards. Kaori and I followed him.

"Do you guys want to do the Chunin Exams?" Rukuto asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes." I instantly said. We needed to go to the Chunin Exams so I could cheer Naruto on and make sure he didn't get killed by Kiba or Orochimaru in the Forest of Death. Oh crap, I'd have to go through the Forest of Death. Oh well, if I die, then I die. Hey, maybe if I die then I go back to my world. Or maybe I'll actually die. So let's not go with that option.

"Yeah, let's do the Chunin Exams." Said Kaori.

"Genji." Rukuto turned to me. "All you have are those swords, correct? No other Jutsu?"

"I don't have any other signature Jutsus. I know the Substitution Jutsu and the Clone Jutsu, but I won't be able to use them while I'm using my swords."

"Why not?" Kaori asked. "You must really suck if you can't do simple jutsu like that." She joked.

I drew my Imagine Blade. The other two stopped, and faced me. Kaori got back in a fighting stance. I attempted to make a hand sign while still holding my sword, but I dropped the weapon. I knelt back down, and put my sword back at my hip. I looked Kaori in the eye as I stood up. "Do you understand?"

She got out of her fighting stance. "You could have just told me."

"I got the job done the same as if I just told you. Actually, I did it better because you got a visual of it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

The three of us continued to walk.

"Hey guys." Rukuto called after a few minutes of walking. "I think we're lost."

"What the heck, Rukuto?" Kaori groaned. "Give me the paper." He handed her the paper and looked at it. "We're way out of the way. Don't you have any sense of direction?"

Rukuto looked away. I looked down at the box that I was holding. I would have gotten us lost too if I was the one who had the paper with the address on it.

"What I was saying a few minutes ago, Genji... is that you need to train hard with those swords so you can compete with other people."

"All I have are these swords. How am I supposed to compete with someone who can breath fire?"

"I don't know. Ask your mom or something."

* * *

After dropping off the box we headed back to the Hokage's office, and found Hitoshi-sensei waiting out front. "It took you about ten minutes longer than it should have."

"Rukuto got us lost." Kaori stated plainly.

"Oh well." Hitoshi-sensei walked us into the building.

* * *

We received our reward, and we went our separate ways.

I headed back to my Clan's Compound, and I waved to a few of my distant relatives. I don't remember how I'm related to them- or their names.

I walked up to my house, and I saw Sora- my sister- sitting at the kitchen table eating some rice. She nodded to me, and she reached across the table and grabbed another bowl. She held it out to me. I grabbed the bowl, and saw she filled it with rice.

I began eating, but it was cold. I looked over to her, and she held her hands to the sides of the bowl. The rice began heating up, and she let go. "Thanks." I said. She nodded, and I continued eating.

After eating, I went to my room. I looked in the mirror that was installed over my dresser. I scratched my chin, and ran my hand through my hair. How was a swordsman supposed to keep up with insane people like Gaara, or geniuses like Neji? I don't have enough time to train Rock Lee style, unless I want to completely overwork my muscles and kill myself.

There was a few sword techniques shown in the Naruto series. Hayate Gekko- the coughing Chunin Proctor- used a technique, though I don't remember the name of it. Baki- Gaara's Sensei- said something along the lines of 'being able to master it at such a young age is rare', so I doubt I'll be able to master it quickly.

* * *

A few hours later, my parents came in. I walked down the stairs, and I walked up to my mother, who looked up at me. "Yo, Genji. What's up?"

How was I supposed to ask her to train me? Was I just supposed to ask, all straight forward like? Oh well, that's what I'm going to do. "I need to train for the Chunin Exams."

"Alright!" She grinned, and pounded her fist into her hand. "Let's go."

* * *

The two of us were standing on top of a building. I awkwardly adjusted my swords, and looked at her.

"Alright, Genji. This is where your training begins."

"Yeah- I haven't done anything yet. So no doubt this would be where my training starts." I said sarcastically.

"Don't be an idiot." She said. "Do you remember when you got your swords?"

"Yeah, that was like two weeks ago."

"I told you 'when you activated your chakra, the swords that were closest to your chakra signature came towards you'."

"Yes?"

"When you have weapons that match your chakra- which they do- you can augment your chakra through the blade and you can activate your Jutsu- without a hand sign."

"Really?"

"Don't just take my word for it. I'll demonstrate it." She pulled a tomahawk out of her weapon pouch. Chakra glowed around her, and then fire formed around her weapon. She slashed at the air, and fire flew off of the blade.

"So can you teach me a technique that I can activate with my sword?"

"No. First, you need to train your chakra, you suck."

"I'm not that bad..."

"No, you need to train your chakra."

"How?"

"You need to avoid me until morning."

"Wait, what?"

"You heard me, you need to avoid me until morning. You can use anything you want, but if you directly attack me I'll kill you."

"We can't do that..."

"Sure we can. Why can't we?"

I didn't know what to say. I just didn't want to die.

"We start right now." She swung her hatchet down at me, but I leapt backwards. Oh crap, I'm going to die. She swung her weapon at me again, but darted off. She started to chase me, but I was faster than her.

* * *

I made it almost across the Compound, and I hid behind a building. I was out of breath, and I had no idea how far ahead I was. I put my hand on the wall, and I activated my chakra. I attempted to swing myself up to the roof, but I fell to the ground. I groaned, and stood back up.

"I found you." Said the voice of my mother. I spun around to figure out where she was- she was standing on the roof of the building. She swung her hatchet down at me, and I took off once again, even though I was completely out of energy.

I fell to my knees in the middle of the road, and I looked around. It was dark now, and most of everyone was in their houses. A few shinobi were running across roofs, so they could complete their missions before morning.

I stood up, and I walked up to the house. I activated my chakra at my hands and feet, and I climbed up the side- even though it was completely flat. I climbed up the building, heck yeah. I ducked behind a crate.

A few minutes later, my mother zipped by, searching for me. "Damn it, Genji. Where are you at?" Whoa, I just dodged a bullet there.

* * *

I got pretty bored, eventually I fell asleep and once I woke up it was already sunny. Crap, I better meet up with my squad, I'm really late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yona of the Dawn/Akatsuki no Yona: 
> 
> Description: A princess of a Kingdom flees from her Kingdom for reasons that are spoilers. Yona takes her bodyguard Hak, and then they encounter an oracle. This oracle tells her that she needs to recruit the four Dragon Warriors, in order to keep Hak from dying. Before they leave, the oracle suggests they take his friend Yoon with them, as he always wanted to see the world but couldn't due to having to take care of his friend. Yoon, Hak, and Yona set off to search for the Dragons.
> 
> Genres: Historical fantasy, Shonen, Adventure, (light) romance, (medium) comedy,
> 
> Good: Good animation, and popping character designs.* Nearly all of the characters, including side characters, are likable. Mundok for the win, dude. The antagonist of the show isn't some emotionless plot device for the characters to overcome. He has his own goals and emotions- something that antagonists tend to get shafted in.**
> 
> *Done by Pierrot. I know some people have some gripes with them, but I don't really have a problem with them. They've done Bleach, Naruto, and Yu Yu Hakusho to name a few.
> 
> **Though... I guess at the beginning he seems kinda cliche. He grows out of it, though.
> 
> Bad: Yona's a bit... meh. In general I tend to dislike characters where everyone in the damn show thinks their the second coming. Kija is pretty annoying. Combat is always too short, and doesn't really worry me about what happens to the characters.
> 
> Final Thoughts: I ranked it in the good category.


	9. Mistakes and Idiocy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do I even need to write these? I'm just gonna leave it blank from here on out...

Episode 9: Mistakes and Idiocy

I darted to the Hokage's office, my hand at my swords to keep them from falling out. I opened the door, and walked in.

"Hello, Genji." Lord Hiruzen said. "How can I help you?"

I was out of breath. It took me a minute to get enough oxygen in my lunges to speak. "Has my Squad been here yet?"

"No. Do you want me to call Hitoshi?"

"No, thanks, though. I'll just wait here."

A few minutes later, Rukuto walked in by himself.

"Hey, Rukuto. Where's Hitoshi-sensei and Kaori?" I asked.

"You idiot." He rolled his eyes. "Where were you last night?"

"Well I was training with my mother, pretty much playing hide and seek. And then I feel asleep."

"Your parents are freaking out. So is your sister. Hitoshi-sensei, Kaori, and I went there to pick you up. We've been looking for you for about two hours."

I had nothing to say. I shouldn't have allowed myself to fall asleep. I should have went back to my house to check with them. Why am I so stupid?

Lord Hokage made some hand signs, and he slapped his hand on the table. There was summoned a small monkey, with light brown fur. The monkey nodded to him.

"Can you please deliver a message to Hitoshi Akiyama, Kaori Tendo, Sora Kureno, Fumiko Kureno, and Noriaki Kureno." The monkey nodded again. "I want you to tell them that Genji is found, and they should have told me about this, so I could have sent tracker shinobi to find him."

"Yes, sir." The monkey teleported away.

The Summoning Jutsu. I could learn that, and summon animals before a fight. That would be pretty cool. If I learn it, I might not get destroyed by literally everyone.

A few minutes later, Kaori and Hitoshi-sensei walked in. Kaori glared at me. My gaze dropped to my feet. Is she mad at me?

The Third Hokage tossed a scroll to Hitoshi-sensei, who caught it.

Our sensei opened the scroll. He nodded. "Thank you, Lord Third. Let's go guys."

"What is this mission?" Asked Rukuto.

"It'll take all day and night if we don't split up. Even then, it will take quite some time. Kaori and I will go together. Rukuto and Genji you two will go together."

"What are you doing?" Kaori groaned.

"The mission is to find a certain Leaf Shinobi."

Could it be that the Third Hokage assigned us to search for Master Jiriaya? I mean, he was in the village during the Chunin Exams. It would make sense for him to be there before. But maybe he wasn't and this is a completely different person.

"Maybe he's having us search for Rukuto." Kaori joked. "He gets lost enough that the Hokage might need to create missions to find him."

"That was _one_ time."

He handed a picture to each of us. The man had a green headband. His hair was black, and he had brown eyes. He was wearing standard Leaf Ninja gear.

"Why are we looking for this guy?" I asked.

"His wife hasn't seen him in a few days. He hasn't been on any missions lately. He isn't dangerous, he's barely a Chunin."

"We better get going." I said.

Hitoshi-sensei and Kaori took off. Rukuto and I took off in a different direction.

We ran in silence for a few minutes.

"This is going to take all night even if we do split up." Rukuto said.

"Yeah? Hitoshi-sensei already said that, I already know. What's the point of you telling me again?"

"I'm going to use my Lightning Style to move faster."

"Hmm."

* * *

We continued looking for quite some time. After a while, Hitoshi-sensei and Kaori teleported over to us.

"Alright." Hitoshi-sensei said. "Now I'll go with Genji, and then Rukuto and Kaori will search together. This time, Genji and I will search through the Western part of the Leaf, and you guys will go through the Eastern side."

Rukuto nodded to Kaori, then the two took off.

Hitoshi-sensei and I swiftly vacated to the Western side of the Village.

We ran in silence, searching for the missing shinobi. It was almost dark now. "You guys better get home." Hitoshi-sensei told me. "You guys don't need to stay up all night for a mission, it'll just ruin your day tomorrow."

"Thank you." I stopped running. Running the entire night was exhausting. I was covered in sweat and I was tired. I could really go for a good sleep right about now.

"I'll tell Rukuto and Kaori right now. Can you make it back to your Clan's Compound from here?"

"Yes, I can."

Hitoshi-sensei teleported away.

I looked around. I had no idea where I was. I had no idea how to get back to my house. "Crap." I mumbled. I looked around, and I saw the biggest building I could find. The Hokage's Mansion was bigger, but this building was right in front of me. I activated my chakra, and attempted to walk up the wall. I fell almost instantly.

I stood back up. I set both my swords on the ground. I examined the house. It had a small garage attached to the house, with a window about six feet above the roof of the garage. I pulled myself onto the garage. I walked over to the window, I reached up, and I grabbed a windowsill.

Hopefully no one would be able to hear or see me. I pulled myself up, and I reached for the head of the window. I couldn't quite reach it. I used chakra, and I managed to walk up a little bit higher, but my left foot slipped as I got nearly to the top.

As my foot slipped, I grabbed the top with my right hand. I reached up with my left, and I managed to grab the head of the window with both hands. I pulled my feet up. I looked up. Nothing else for me to gra. I looked around the village, maybe I could see my house from here.

I looked around the village. There it was. Not too far away from the Hyuga Compound- where I apparently was now, not that I knew that at the time.

I pushed off the building, and I landed on the garage with a loud thud. I jumped down to the ground, and I put both my swords at my hip. I took off, sprinting towards where my Clan's Compound was.

Crap, I forgot that I didn't get back home last night. My parents are gonna be angry.

I finally made it back to my house. All the lights were out, so I hoped everyone was asleep. I slowly walked towards my room, but then the lights turned on. I froze, and I turned to see my mother. She shook her head.

"Sorry I didn't come home last night... I feel asleep when I was trying to avoid you."

"I was thinking about it all day, and I realized that it was my fault for not being specific enough." She stood up. "But we need to train, and make up for what we missed yesterday." She turned. "Noriaki. Let's go."

My father came out of his bedroom, still wearing his ninja gear but he wasn't wearing his headband. He nodded to me, but said nothing.

The three of us walked outside, and then went to the forest of the Leaf. My father made some hand signs, and he slapped his hand on the ground. A massive wall of mud skyrocketed through the ground.

"This is Earth Style: Mud Wall." My mother said. "You need to run up the side of this wall. Even if it takes all night."

I looked up the wall. It was about the size of a skyscraper. I was supposed to climb this wall? No, not climb. I need to walk up it.

My father reached out, and he put his hand on my forehead. _"You can do it."_ A voice said, but he didn't move his lips. He smiled, and walked away.

My mother watched as he walked away. "Are you ready to climb up the wall?"

"Why doesn't Dad just speak?"

"We haven't told you yet. Sora already knows. During the Third Shinobi War... your father was attacked by a group of Rock Shinobi. It was a sneak attack, everyone else in his squad was killed, even their sensei. They tortured your father, then put him in Gejutsu to get him to leak information." She clenched her teeth. "He still wouldn't budge. They got their best interrogation officers, and they continued to torture him. He knew he was going to break soon. As soon as they left him alone- just for one second- he bit off is own tongue."

I closed my eyes. "Alright, I'll start going up the wall." I said, eager to change the subject. I set my swords down on the ground, and I untied my headband from my waist, and I set it next to my swords. I cracked my neck. I already know that I need the perfect amount to walk up the wall. But I'll need to figure out what that perfect amount is.

I got down in a sprinter's position, and I took off towards the wall. I planted my feet on the wall, and I began running up the side. I could do it. I was running up the side. Just as I thought I could make it up, my feet slipped, and I fell to the ground.

I landed hard on my back. I groaned, and I sat back up. I got to my feet. This was going to be harder than I thought it would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aoharu x Machinegun/Aoharu x Kikanjuu: 
> 
> Description: A young woman named Hotaru Tachibana is often mistaken for a boy. After jumping to conclusions too quickly, she destroys part of a hostc lub that she thought her friend was scammed in. One of the workers, known as Masamune Matsuoka, promises that he'll pay the debt as long as Tachibana plays for his airsoft team. She later realizes that Toy Gun Gun no longer accepts female players. Matsuoka, Tachibana, and a perverted sniper named Toru Yukimura face against some of the most sadistic players in the game and in the mean time, Tachibana has to pretend as if she's a guy.
> 
> Genres: Sport, Shonen, (light) comedy, action, 
> 
> Good: The art and animation are pretty good.* I like the character interaction between Tachibana and Matsuoka. I've never seen an anime about airsoft before, so I'm going to be sure to see if there's anything else like that. The music is pretty good. The voice acting is pretty good.** I like all of the character's designs.
> 
> Note: *Their studio is Brain's Base, which I've never heard of. The most recognized titles that this studio has are Assassination Classroom and Kenichi the Mightiest Desciple. I'll be checking out more of this studio in the future.
> 
> **However, the choices for the actors is kinda iffy at times, which I'll mention in the bad section. 
> 
> Bad: The action is a little lacking at times. There's a timeskip between the second and third episode that was pretty weird, because I had no idea there was a timeskip so I thought I skipped a few episodes. The two other people in the antagonist's group are pretty lame. The pacing is kinda fast, but only because it's twelve episodes long. They introduce a few characters that their voices don't really match what they look like, which can be jarring at first.
> 
> Final Thoughts: I ranked it in the good category, you should check it out. Twelve episodes and a special.


	10. Training and Training

Episode 10: Training and Training

I sprinted up the mud wall, but I put too much chakra in my feet, and I was sent flying backwards. As I was flying back I did a backflip, and I landed on my feet. I put chakra in the soles of my feet once again, and I used it to propel myself forwards. I charged at the wall, and I ran up the side. I made it nearly a quarter of the way up, before I didn't apply enough chakra and I fell.

I landed on my feet again, but I didn't leap forwards like I did the last time. This was going to take a while.

* * *

I woke up, lying on my back. I sat up, and realized that I had made it to the top of the wall. The sun was just coming up. I had no idea how long I had actually slept, but it felt like I was hit by a truck. Now that I was conscious, I remembered making it to the top and then lying down. I was exhausted then, I probably used up too much chakra.

I carefully climbed down the wall, and I saw that my mother was sitting down on the ground. She was leaning against a tree, with her eyes closed. As I approached, her eyes opened. "Your Squad hasn't come by yet. You should probably get ready. Don't forget to grab your swords."

I nodded, and I looked around for my swords. She whistled, and I turned. She had my swords sitting next to her. She handed me my Sakabato first, and I put it at my hip. She then handed me my Imagine Blade. I put that at my side as well.

* * *

A few minutes later, Hitoshi-sensei dropped by my house. Beside him was Kaori. I nodded to them, and we headed to Rukuto's house. Rukuto was waiting outside, leaning against the side of his house.

"Great, we're all together. We can get a mission now." Hitoshi-sensei said.

We went to the Third Hokage's office. He was smoking his pipe. He looked up at us, and he took the pipe from his mouth. "Would you like another mission?" He asked.

"Yeah." Our sensei answered.

Lord Third set three scrolls on the table. "Pick one, Hitoshi."

Hitoshi-sensei walked over, and he read each of the scrolls. He selected the one in the center. He walked away. Kaori and Rukuto following him. "Coming, Genji?" Rukuto asked.

"Give me a minute. I want to have a word with Lord Third."

The three of them left.

"Well? What is it, Genji?"

I knelt down to the ground. I had my hand on my swords to keep them from hitting the ground. "I know you don't have much free time being the Hokage, and you don't want to waste your time teaching someone like me... but I wish to learn the Summoning Jutsu under you."

"The Summoning Jutsu, eh? Couldn't you learn it from your father?"

"No, sir. I want to learn how to summon apes and monkeys. Please teach me!" I avoided looking up at him the entire time. It helped that I had always had a bad problem with not making enough eye contact in real life. If the situation called for it, such as when my parents yelled at me for it, I would say that in different cultures it's disrespectful.

"Please stand up, Genji Kureno."

I stood, but I didn't look him in the eye. I didn't remove my hand from my sword.

"Right now, catch up with your Squad. After your mission, then I will teach you the Summoning Jutsu."

"Thank you, Lord Third!"

He smiled. "Hurry and catch up, Genji."

I walked out of the office, and I jogged to catch up with my Squad.

"What was that about?" Kaori asked.

"I asked the Third to teach me how to summon apes."

"Is that so?" Hitoshi-sensei asked. "Good luck mastering that technique. The simians are possibly the hardest animals to summon properly."

"Don't worry. I'll be able to do it."

"Hey, Genji. Can I ask a favor of you?" Kaori asked.

"Hmm? About what?"

"Well... you're a weapon master. So can you teach me how to use my escrima sticks."

I could feel my cheeks heating up. In person, I don't talk to girls all that often, because I'm a loser. When I did, I would always feel my face heating up, my cheeks turning red. "Sorry... But I don't know how to use the escrima sticks. So I can't teach you how to use them."

"That's not what I meant. I know how to use them, I just don't have any experience using them in actual combat. I want to duel you."

"Alright. But after this mission, I'm going to talk to the Third. After that I will duel you."

Rukuto turned and grinned to me. "I always knew you were a lady killer."

I turned away from him. "It's not like that at all. I'm just helping her train."

"I bet you're helping her train alright." He pointed his fingers at me in the shape of a gun. He made a sound like he was shooting a gun.

I looked over to Kaori, to see that her face was beet red. I turned away. "So what kind of a mission are we doing, Sensei?"

Hitoshi-sensei turned to me. "Well after yesterday's mission, I wanted a quick one. All we need to do is head to the ramen shop, and then each of us deliver one bowl for them."

"One bowl each?" I double checked.

"Yeah, that's what I said."

* * *

We made it to Ichiraku Ramen. The owner, Old Man Ichiraku, had a cast around his leg. He was sitting on a tall stool.

"Hey, thanks for coming!" Called Ayame, the girl. I looked around trying to figure out where she was. She came out from behind the shop, with large black circles under her eyes. "Sorry, I've been running around all day. So I needed to hire some ninja to keep up. All these bowls are supposed to be delivered across the village."

Old Man Ichiraku struggled to make a bowl of ramen. After he made it, he handed it to Hitoshi-sensei and put a piece of foil over, with a small tag on it. Ayame exited the building, doing something- I have no idea what though. Hitoshi looked at the tag. It was an address. "Alright." He started walking away. Old Man Ichiraku did the same thing with Kaori, Rukuto, and I. He tagged the addresses to the paper.

The three of us went off.

* * *

As I was walking, I let my mind wander. I wonder how the training with the Third Hokage will go. I have no idea, actually. Hitoshi-sensei said that simians were extremely hard to control, so I might not actually be able to do it.

What about my duel with Kaori? I'm actually looking forwards to it. I'm getting a little excited thinking about it. Back in real life, my brother had a bunch of his friends over and we screwed around with wooden swords. I was in a battle against one of the tallest and strongest of the group. I was excited for the fight, and I even thought that I could be able to win.

When the duel started, I walked towards him, and we slashed at each other a few times. I was standing stationary, which was extremely stupid, considering he had a reach and strength advantage against me. What I should have done is jump around, and use my greater speed to my advantage- though we were on a small platform that we'd lose if we stepped off, which I still think was stupid.

He gored me in the stomach within the first thirty seconds. The second round I went for harder swings, trying to knock the sword from his hand. I over swung, and my sword hit the ground. As I was lifting my sword, he stabbed me in the collarbone. I was defeated in both rounds, but I still had fun doing it.

My second match was up against my brother. I charged at him in the first round, and I chased him off the platform (actually chased him) and I chased him across the yard, and I stabbed him in the stomach- I didn't know if you stepped off the platform you lost. The second match I charged at him, but he didn't run away. We continued to slash and stab at each other, neither of us getting any good shots in. I stepped off the side, and I slashed at him. I almost got him, but I stepped off the platform anyway so I lost that round anyway.

My brother charged at me at the beginning of the final round. He started doing a lot of stabs, forcing me to back away. I backed off the platform. I still didn't like the rule if you step off the platform then you lose.

Unlike my duel with my brother's friend, I have the range due to my sword being longer than an escrima stick. Escrima sticks are around half the size of a sword, if I had to guess. She still probably has the power advantage, so I'll need to circle around her, and back her into a corner to keep her from moving around too much. Then I'll use my range and take her down with a stab to the stomach or something.

* * *

I finally made it to my destination. I gave the man his ramen, and he gave me the money. I nodded to him, and I went back to the ramen stand.

Ayame looked even more tired than before, and there was a bunch of people at the stand. I gave her the money, and she gave some of it back to me. "Here ya go! Thanks for helping us out!"

"Do you want any more help?" I asked.

"At the moment, I don't have enough money to buy the ingredients, pay for the three of you, and then pay for you a second time."

I thought for a moment. I need to do a bunch of stuff today. I need to train with the Third, I need to duel Kaori, and I probably need to practice my chakra with mother. We don't need any extra money at home, because everyone in the house is working we're pretty well off.

"Has anyone else come back yet?"

"No, not yet."

"When everyone gets back, I'll stop working but I can work for you for free until then."

She smiled. "Thank you."

* * *

After an extremely tiring hour, Hitoshi made it back. Half an hour after, Kaori made it back. And finally in another half hour Rukuto made it back.

"I must be off then, Miss Ayame."

"See ya! Thanks for helping out!"

* * *

We headed back to the Third's office. He gave Hitoshi-sensei the money, and he split the money between the four of us- cutting his share in half and giving me that half.

"I don't deserve this much money, sensei." I said.

"You worked for an extra two hours, it's fine. I'd give you more, but if I did then I'd starve to death."

The three of them left the room, and the Third Hokage pulled out a scroll. He opened it up. "You need to sign this scroll in blood." He told me.

I nodded, and I unsheathed about two inches of my Sakabato. I ran my thumb against the bladed side, and it cut me. I quickly signed my name. Genji Kureno.

"The hand signs are; boar, dog, bird, monkey, and ram."

"I'm a visual learner. Can you please show me the hand signs?"

He nodded, and made the hand signs. I mimicked them, and I slapped my hand on the ground. Nothing happened.

"You didn't sacrifice any blood. You cut your right thumb, but you slapped your left hand on the ground. Be aware, apes are the most stubborn of the summons. They won't do what you say when you summon them. You need to impress Monkey King Enma in a battle before any of them will do what you tell them."

"So I need to summon Enma right off the bat?"

"No, you need to practice the Summoning Jutsu first, then I will summon Enma. And you will face him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btooom/Batoom: 
> 
> Description: Ryoma Sakamoto is ranked number one in a game called Btooom. There are no guns in Btooom, only different types of explosives. Sakamoto finds himself trapped on an island, with a man throwing bombs at him suspiciously like the weapons from Btooom. Sakamoto will have to fight, or he will be blown to dust.
> 
> Genres: Action, survival, seinen.
> 
> Good: The art and the animation are really nice to look at. It's done by Madhouse, so that's pretty much expected.* Most of the main characters are pretty relatable and if not they're sympathetic. The different types of explosives are pretty cool- no one type is stronger than another, it's how the user uses them. The sound track is pretty good. I like the strategies that people use to make use of their weapons.
> 
> *Madhouse also does Black Lagoon, Death Note, and Trigun.
> 
> Bad: The dubbing is iffy at times. Especially with the main character, but it's weird with a few other characters. There's a.... scene in the second episode that is pretty bad (not as in bad quality but bad as in evil), that I don't want to describe at all because of spoilers.*
> 
> *It's a Seinen, so you should know what you're getting into. This vague-ass description I gave it may leave the wrong impression. It's not an overtly violent scene or anything.
> 
> Final Thoughts: I ranked it in the good category. Twelve episodes.


	11. Apes and Anger

Episode 11: Apes and Anger

I made some hand signs, and I bit my thumb hard. I tasted blood, and then smacked my hand onto the ground. Smoke puffed out of no where. Once the smoke cleared, a small black monkey appeared. Around it's face was a light yellow color, and and the yellow went down it's neck, and then went down his shoulder area and stopped around his elbow.

"Who the hell are you?" Asked the monkey.

"My name is Genji Kureno. I have just made the contract so I can summon the apes."

"Yeah, I don't care. Don't summon me again." He disappeared.

I starred at where the monkey used to be, surprised by his quick departure. The Third Hokage smiled, and seemed as though he was on the verge of laughing.

"I didn't think that he'd leave like that." I admitted.

The Third Hokage nodded. "I'll summon Enma, and you will battle him." He made the hand signs, and he bit his thumb. He smacked his hand on the desk, and a human sized monkey appeared. He was wearing human clothes, and he had white fur. The parts of his face and hands that didn't have fur covering them were brown. He was wearing a tiger striped kimono looking uniform without sleeves. I eyed the Leaf headband he had tied around his forehead.

Enma looked over to Lord Hiruzen. "What is happening here?"

"This young man has signed the contract. He wishes to duel you so he can summon the apes."

Enma turned to me, and then jumped off the desk. He knuckle-walked over toward me. He got extremely close to me, and he stood up on his back feet. He got in my face, but I refused to move. Even though he was making me extremely uncomfortable- I never really liked when people were close to me.

Enma took a step backward, and went back down on his knuckles. He lifted his right hand, and he reached for my swords. Instinctively, I smacked his hand away. He looked surprised for a moment. At the moment, would it show weakness if I apologized? Would he get offended if I didn't? Ugh, I don't really know.

"Alright, I'll duel you. You may use your swords." Enma took a step backward, and got into a fighting stance.

I widened my stance, and I gripped my Imagine Blade. Enma charged, and I drew my sword. I slashed at him, but he blocked the attack with his forearm. He swatted my sword away, and punched me in the chest. I groaned, and fell backward. I didn't allow myself to fall, I caught myself. I'm not going to be able to beat him with my Imagine Blade, I'll need to use my Sakabato. And I'll need to use the bladed edge.

Enma tackled me, and he forced me into the wall. His cannon-sized arms restricted the movement of my arms- so I couldn't switch blades. He re-positioned his right arm, so that way his elbow was pressed up against my throat. I couldn't breath. He punched me across the cheek.

That hurt. Pain shot through my head, neck, and chest. The pain of his punch to the chest didn't register until now. I needed to do something or else this over sized simian is going to kill me.

I dropped my Imagine Blade, and I pulled out a kunai from my weapon pouch. I attempted to stab him, but his tail wrapped around my wrist, and tightened. I dropped the kunai as well.

He removed his elbow, and he grabbed a handful of my hair. He slammed me into the ground. It felt like I got hit my a truck. He reached for my throat with his hand, but I tucked my chin in, and his index finger was right in front of my mouth. I opened my jaw, and I bit down as hard as I could.

He hissed and yanked his hand away from me. He punched at my head with a wide punch- a haymaker. I ducked and rolled back to my feet, drawing my Sakabato, and I holding it close to my lower stomach, the bladed side pointing toward him.

"A reverse blade sword." Said Enma. "It's been a while sense I've seen one of those. What is your name, child?"

I didn't want to answer him. I wanted to hack his arms off. I heard a ringing in my ears, and I felt a little dizzy. I could feel anger clouding my judgement.

"I asked you a question, human. Answer me."

This damn monkey thinks that he's entitled to my voice after he attacked me and slammed me into the ground. I didn't feel the pain anymore, just the anger. I charged at him with an over head slash. Enma leapt backward, doing a backflip, his feet hit the wall and he flew toward me- just over my blade. Enma punched at my nose, but I moved my head to the side just enough for him to miss. His punch landed directly to the left of my nose, right under my eye.

The force sent me rocketing back, but I still managed to stay on my feet.

"You have a very determined look in your eye." Enma said. "You look like you can use a lot of training. You have impressed me, this duel is over. You did not impress me with your strength or speed- those were sub-par. But the determination that you showed. I will not have you be weak. Tomorrow, summon me after your mission and then I will take you somewhere that I can train you."

The anger faded from my being. The ringing in my ears stopped. I sheathed my sword. "Thank you, King Enma. And my name... is Genji Kureno."

"A Kureno that does Summoning Jutsu?"

I nodded. "Yes. I am going to need it if I have a chance to keep up with this generation."

I located my Imagine Blade that was lying on the ground. I walked over, and I knelt to pick it up. Instantly the pain shot back through my body. I grimaced, and grabbed my weapon. I slowly stood back up, and put the sword back at my hip.

Monkey King Enma nodded, and then he disappeared with a puff of smoke.

"That went better than I expected." The Third Hokage said.

"Thank you for teaching me that technique, Lord Third." I said. I bowed to him- with some difficulty due to the pain in my back, chest, head, and throat. But I guess the pain in my throat and chest were already starting to fade a little.

I walked out of the building. What was I supposed to do next? Hmm... I was going to spar with Kaori. I walked out of the building, and then I realized that I had no idea where I was going. I should have asked Kaori where we were going to spar. Maybe she's at her house. But I still don't know where her house is. I could wonder around until I find it. That won't be effective. I could ask Lord Hokage where her house is.

Yes, that is what I'll do. I walked back into the building, and I went up to his office.

"Did you forget something, Genji?" The Third was smoking his pipe.

"Well... I was going to have a duel with Kaori. But I don't know where she is at. Can you please help me by telling me where her house is?"

He looked across the room, and an ANBU Shinobi that was standing in the corner walked forward. Jesus, I didn't even know he was there. He was wearing a white Oni mask, with black stripes all over his face, and he had horns coming out of his forehead. The Oni's mouth was opened, but the ANBU's face was hidden by the Oni's jagged teeth. The man was wearing a black cloak wrapped around himself, with the hood up.

"Will you show him to the Tendo house?"

"Yes, Lord Hokage." He had a slightly deep voice, but not to a Batman level.

* * *

The ANBU shinobi escorted me to the Tendo House. "Thank you." I said to him.

He nodded, and he began to disappear from feet up. His head remained for several seconds after the rest of his body had disappeared. His mask seemed to float right in front of me for even longe than the rest of his head..

I walked up to the door, and I knocked. A minute later, a young boy opened the door. He had the same light brown hair was Kaori, but he had brown eyes instead of green. He was wearing a blue T-shirt, and black pants. He had similar head shape, but his jawbone was slightly more defined.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"Is this the Tendo House?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"May I speak with Kaori Tendo?"

"...Yeah, alright." He ran off. 

A few minutes later, Kaori came out. Her hair was undone, and it came down to the small of her back. She had two escrima sticks in her right hand. "Why are you covered in bruises?" She asked.

I touched my cheek, feeling that there was a bruise there.

"Your neck too."

"I had a different duel today."

"Are you sure that you want to spar, then? You're already injured."

"No, let's do it."

"Alright, fine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dimension W (season 1): 
> 
> Description: In the year 2036 a fourth dimensional axis beyond X, Y, and Z was proven to exist. Inter-dimensional, electromagnetic induction device known as coils were developed to tap into the inexhaustible energy supply that exists within Dimension W. Mankind has discovered what it has always sought- a limitless supply of energy!
> 
> Genres: Action, Sci-Fi, seinen.
> 
> Good: The art and animation are really good.* The interactions because Kyoma Mabuchi and Mira Yurizaki is pretty interesting. It reminds me of a more sci-fi version of Cowboy Bebop (without space). I don't really find any fault with the dub, but some people probably do. I like all of the main characters.
> 
> *It's done by a small studio that I've never heard of called 3Hz, alongside a company called Orange. The only really noteable thing on 3Hz's list is Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online. Orange, also small, has Black Bullet.
> 
> Bad: Suddenly discovering a new dimensional axis is kinda impractical and weird. It leaves me with questions like "how did it get discovered?", "how didn't anyone figure it out before?" which never get addressed. Also, a limitless supply of energy is kinda impractical.
> 
> Final Thoughts: I ranked it in the good category. Twelve episodes within the first season. Then like six or something in the second. Plus a special. Once again, I only saw the first season. So the things I mentioned may change in the second season. However, the issues in the bad category should have been mentioned sooner should they bring them up in season two. That's just bad writing.


	12. Battle and Training

Episode 12: Battle and Training

Kaori and I went to her backyard, which was quite large, plenty of room to move around. I looked at her Escrima sticks. They were long, not as long as my swords- but they were still long.

I took my Sakabato out of my modified sword holder (my headband which was tied around a belt loop). I walked up to the house, and I set the weapon up against it so it would be out of the way of our duel.

"Are you ready?" She asked.

I took out my Imagine Blade, and I held it in my dominant left hand. I stepped away from the house, and I practiced a slash. "Yes, I'm ready."

She got into her stance, and I got into mine. Her stance was a straight forward stance, with her lead (weaker) leg stepping toward me. She had her escrima stick in her dominant hand out in front of her, ready to quickly swing it. Her left stick was up near her face to block any attack of mine.

My stance was was a sideways stance, my feet spread apart like a horse rider's stance, but not quite as exaggerated as that. I held my blade out in front of myself, holding it horizontally- running perpendicular to my arm.

"And... start!" She called. Without wasting any time, she advanced, swung her right hand weapon at me. I leapt backward, and stabbed at her throat. With both her escrima sticks she blocked the attack, holding her sticks like an X.

She forced my sword up into the air, and then swung them off to the side. She stepped forward with her lead leg- and I thought she was going for a kick. But she swung her other leg. Out of reflex, I tensed my leg, lifting it up about two inches. A kick that was supposed to land just above my knee hit the hard part of my tensed knee.

She grimaced. While she was distracted, I slashed down trying to knock the stick from her dominant hand. I failed, and she swung her other stick at me. I jumped to the right, and then after her arm extended all the way, I advanced, slashing at her from the left side.

Kaori stepped forward, blocked my Imagine Blade with her left hand, and then swung her other Escrima stick at me. I lifted my shoulder to protect my neck, and I tightened my arm so my hand was at the back of my neck for extra protection. My arm itself was protecting the side of my head, my shoulder was protecting the side of my neck, and my hand was protecting the back of my neck.

Most of the blow hit my shoulder, but a little of the stick hit my thumb. Without missing a beat she retracted the stick, and swung upward into my abdomen with her other stick, forcing me to take a step backward.

This time, I advanced punching at her with my right arm. She swung her stick up into my wrist, and then stabbed the other into my stomach. I swung my sword at her, but she ducked, and then swung her one stick into my forearm, and the other into my wrist. The force made me drop my sword, and I jumped backward.

She charged toward me. I knew I needed to create distance between the two of us, so I could get my sword. I lifted my knee, and in the same motion I kicked forward into her stomach- popping my hip forward. The kick wasn't meant to actually hurt her or throw her off, just meant to knock her backward a few feet.

I charged forward, and she swung her escrima stick at my head, I ducked and rolled forward and as I finished the roll I grabbed my sword. As she was still in the motion of attacking me before I rolled I jabbed her in the side with the tip of my Imagine Blade.

Kaori took a deep breath. "Alright, the fight's over. Nice fight, that was interesting. I didn't think you'd be able to get your sword back. That was a Muay Thai kick, right?"

"Yeah. it's called the teep, or the front-push kick." I put my Imagine Blade back at my hip, and I walked over to my Sakabato. I put that blade back as well.

"You can stay a little while if you want. It isn't quite dark yet."

"That's just more incentive to get back home. I'm going to have to train there as well, I'd rather not start when I can't see."

"Thanks for the help, Genji."

I nodded, and walked away. As I walked out of the Tendos' house the pain set in. A pain in my shoulder, my thumb, and my abdomen. My throat, chest, and back started hurting again as well. My throat and chest were hurting less than my back and my new wounds. But my thumb didn't hurt as much because she only nicked it.

I walked over to my Compound, which was on a completely different side of the village. As I was walking around the Hyuga Compound, someone said something, which surprised me.

"Lost again?" I turned to see Hinata Hyuga.

"Are you talking to me?"

She nodded.

"No, I'm not lost. My Compound is just right next to yours." I stopped walking. "What are you up to? Not coming out here just for me, I hope. Also, what do you mean by again?"

"I saw you climbing up that building, and looking around. Then you walked away, I didn't know what else you could have been doing. To answer your first question, I'm coming back from a mission with Kiba and Shino."

I felt embarrassed. I didn't think anyone saw me. "Sounds fun. Are you three going to do the Chunin Exams?"

"Yes, I think so. Have you talked to-" Her voice broke for a moment. "-Naruto recently?"

I scratched the back of my neck. "Actually, no. I've been busy for a while with training and doing missions with my squad. Naruto has probably been doing the same thing, so I wouldn't want to bother him."

"If you see him tell him I said hello." Her face turned red. "Or don't... don't even mention me... I don't know..."

I raised my eyebrow. Girls are weird. "Don't worry, Hinata." I nodded to her. "See ya at the Chunin Exams. Later."

* * *

Sora was sitting at the table, with two bowls of ramen. She gestured to the one that she wasn't eating. "This one's for you."

I sat down at the table, and I began eating the ramen. "Are Mom and Dad home?"

"Yeah, they came in and asked if you were here. I said no, and Mom said that they'd be waited where she was yesterday. Not sure where that is, though. What exactly did you guys do, anyway?"

"I was training with my chakra."

"Ah, good. You'll give everyone at the Chunin Exams a good run for their money. Why do you have bruises all over your face?"

"From battling a giant monkey."

Her eyes widened. "You fought a giant monkey? Why?"

"Long story. I better get back to the training." I finished eating the ramen, and I put the dish in the sink, and I walked over to where I trained yesterday. My parents were waiting there, next to a massive wall of mud at least twice the size of the one from the day before.

"Hey, Genji." My mother said. "You need to climb this wall."

"If I fall from this wall I'll die." I said.

My father looked over to my mother.

"He'll use his Earth Style to catch you. No more avoiding training, you need to start."

I didn't bother to explain that I was busy. I set my swords down on the ground, and made a hand sign, and I charged at the wall.

I made it about a quarter of the way up the wall before my feet slipped, and I fell and landed on my feet. I charged back at the wall, and made the hand sign. I ran up the side of the wall, and I made it about half way up the wall, before I fell again. Instead of falling all the way, a massive hand made out of earth came off the wall and caught me. The hand took me down to the ground.

* * *

I finally made it up the wall, and when I finally made it it was already morning.

I guess no sleeping for me... that sucks, because I like to sleep.

"Good job, Genji." Said my mother. "You better get ready for your mission."

I knelt next to my swords, and put them at my hip. I walked to my house, and I saw that Sora was standing across from Hitoshi-sensei.

"Hey, Genji." Sora said. "Your sensei is here."

"I can see that." I walked up to him. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." We walked out of the house, seeing Kaori and Rukuto waiting there.

"Sorry for keeping you guys waiting." I thought about adding, 'I was training' but I decided against it because Kaori and Rukuto would tell me to get some sleep or something.

"Let's go, we need to get a mission." Hitoshi-sensei said, and he began heading to the Hokage's office.

We walked in, and saw that the Third was sitting at his desk, looking through scrolls. "Hello, Hitoshi."

He nodded. "Do you have a mission for us, Lord Hokage?"

"Yes, I just found one." He held the scroll out, and Hitoshi walked over and took the scroll. He opened the scroll, and looked at it. He handed the scroll to Rukuto, who examined it.

"We're searching for a sword." He showed Kaori the scroll, and then showed it to me. There was a picture of a sword, with the sheath behind it. The blade itself was solid black, along with the sheath. The handle had white cloth wrapped around it, and the guard was silver.

Rukuto looked at the scroll. "Actually, they know where the sword is, they're just afraid to get it. Because the place is... 'haunted.' This'll be an easy mission."

"Where is it?" Kaori questioned.

"In the Uchiha Compound."

"Are we even allowed to be in there?" I asked.

Hitoshi nodded. "We're allowed to be in there, because it's no longer the Uchiha Compound. The buildings are still there, but the former Uchiha Compound shrank down to almost a quarter of what it was before."

"Why did it shrink down?" I already guessed the answer. Itachi Uchiha.

"It shrank when Itachi Uchiha slaughtered the entire Uchiha clan to where there was only two survivors- himself, and his little brother, Sasuke."

A few minutes later, we made it to the outskirts of the village. Sasuke glared at us as we passed, but he didn't say anything. We went to the former Uchiha Compound, and we found a storage building.

Rukuto tried to door, and then Hitoshi-sensei put his hand on his shoulder. Rukuto stepped off to the side, and our sensei punched the door and it smashed open.

The building was filled with a crap ton of random stuff. Weapons, shields, scrolls, trash, and several other things. It resembled a hoarder's house. Stuff was everywhere, piled all the way up to my hips. It took ten minutes, but Kaori found it, so we headed back. When he got back to the Hokage's office, a man was standing there. He glared at me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pyscho Pass: 
> 
> Description: Everyone has a Pyscho Pass. This device messures someone's likeliehood to commit a crime. The clearer the hue, the better. Detectives have these guns calls Dominators, which messure a person's pyscho pass and decides wether to use lethal or nonlethal force, depending on their likelihood. Latent criminals, people who's hue got too cloudy, are often given a choice. Either become Enforces and work under the Detectives or live the rest of their lives in jail. Shusei Kagari was flagged as a latent criminal at the age of five with a zero percent chance of rehabilitation. However... he was given his choice- jail or become an Enforcer. Truly an illusionary choice indeed.
> 
> Genres: Crime Fiction, Cyber Punk, Mystery, and Dystopian.
> 
> Good: I really like the points that the antagonist brings up about the setting on the story. All of the Enforcers of Division One are really cool. There's quite a bit of philosophy involved, which is pretty interesting. I was genuinely interested to see what would happen at certain points, where most shows I can either predict or don't care enough to think about*. I like the art, animation, and most of the character designs.**
> 
> *That doesn't mean I don't enjoy those shows, just to a lesser degree than shows like this.
> 
> **They're done a studio called Production IG, which does Eden of the East, Guilty Crown, and Ghost in the Shell.
> 
> Bad: I don't really like Akane, she's pretty bland. The first actual arc, aside from the episodic episodes near the beginning where Akane gets used to her job, is kinda boring and I dislike the arc villain. Akane looks kinda weird.* In my opinion, they wasted a couple of characters.
> 
> *Some of the other females also look odd, so I'm guessing the manga artist just had a hard time drawing women. (That's not saying he's sexist, women have different jaw structure than men do, as well as softer facial features, not always the easiest to draw).
> 
> Final Thoughts: I ranked it in the good category, I would seriously recommend to most people. On an unrelated side note, I would like to point out the similar themes it has to a book I was reading about the same time as watching it. The Arc of a Scythe series, by Neal Shusterman. I won't get into any details, and the related themes get more into the sequel, Thunderhead, rather than it's predecessor, Scythe. I would recommend that too, if you're into reading. A third book is also coming out, I think the author said next year (2019).
> 
> I may review Season Two as well. I have a bad feeling that it's going to be a disappointment, but I'm going to try and watch it anyway.
> 
> Unrelated note, I have caught up with my anime review. Now I'll only review an anime once every so often, because it takes me forever to finish a show. Though when I do, sometimes I'll finish multiple at the same time.


	13. Swords and Duels

Episode 13: Swords and Duels

The man that was glaring at me was wearing Kendo gear, all besides the face gear (called men). His hand guards (kote) were white, and his chest plate (do) was black. The area that protects his groin (tare) was black, along with the pants looking things (hakama).

"You're a swordsman too?" He asked, his voice a growl. He had long black hair that he had tied behind his head. 

I nodded. 

He nodded. "I will be using that sword- the Teruzu Matuso Dai." He gestured to the blade that Kaori was holding. "Thank you for finding this sword."

Kaori stepped forward, and handed the man the sword. The man looked over to me once again. He put the sword at his hip, without taking his eyes off of me. "I challenge you to a duel, swordsman."

"Hmm?"

"You heard me."

"I'm been pretty busy lately, so I can't duel you right now. But I will duel you some day."

"Sounds like a cop out to me." He set some money on the Hokage's desk, and walked out. My squad walked out a minute later.

"Being as this was a short mission," Hitoshi-sensei said, "I will be training you guys."

* * *

A few minutes later, we were standing in the field were we battled the Hitoshi-sensei clones. The obstacle course was gone, aside from a few broken pieces of plastic lying on the ground here and there.

"Genji."

I looked up. "Yes, sensei?"

"You're the youngest one here, so you have the least amount of training. I assume that you're doing combat training with your parents."

"I'm doing chakra training with my parents, and I'm doing combat training with the Third Hokage, and the apes."

"Hmm. Have you practiced stamina conditioning?"

"No, I haven't."

"Alright." He looked at the three of us. "Kaori and Rukuto. The two of you are going to attack at Genji. Genji. You aren't allowed to attack them, you're only allowed to dodge them. Got it?"

"Wait... how is that fair?" I asked. "That's two against one, and I have the least amount of training. And I won't be allowed to fight back." Running away actually suited me. You see, the duel I had with my brother's friend and then my brother weren't the first sword fights that I've been in. I've battled my brother in standard matches- ones without the stupid platform- and the first few times I would run away and when he chased me, he'd run out energy faster than I would. I'd go in for close combat to finish him, but he wasn't done yet.

Before he could stab me I grabbed onto his sword, and stabbed at him. He caught my sword, and for a few moments we struggled over trying to take the other guy's sword, while still trying to get our own back. I let go of his sword, and I grabbed my sword with both hands and yanked it away. I stabbed him in the stomach, defeating him.

In this universe, I rarely ran from a battle- at least so far. My fighting style was also less cheap, but if cheap means living, then I'll be cheap for the rest of my life.

"Don't complain, Genji. Just fight."

"How about we make this into a game?" Kaori asked. "If Rukuto and I beat Genji, then we win. But if Genji can avoid us for ten minutes, then he will win. It will be two out of three."

I took off my swords, and set them on the ground. "I guess that works for me."

Rukuto nodded. "Yeah."

"Start." Hitoshi-sensei said, and the two charged at me.

* * *

I was faster than them. I could run around and dodge them for a long time. Even after I was extremely tired, and out of breath, I could still run away from them. Even when Rukuto used his Lightning Style Jutsu- forgot what it was called- and he turned himself into wind to catch me. I managed to dodge him by running through the forest, and then ran up the side of a tree.

He couldn't slow down fast enough, so he turned back into his human form. By then, I was running across the tree tops with chakra.

The ten minutes were up, so Hitoshi-sensei teleported over to me and told me that I won. Then we started the second round.

Rukuto was chasing after me, I hooked a tree, and before I could continue running, Kaori cracked me in the head with her escrima stick.

The third round I won, because I hid in a tree and neither of them were able to find me.

* * *

After the training, I found my swords and made some hand signs. I bit my thumb, and slapped my hand on the ground, and then Enma appeared.

"I am going to take you to the legendary place, the Aokigahara Jungle."

"What...?"

"The Aokigahara Jungle* is a less famous land, similar to that of Mount Myoboku; the land of the toads, Ryuchi Cave; the land of the snakes, and Shikkotsu Forest; the land of the slugs."

"Are you- going to teach me Sage Mode?" Crap. I probably shouldn't know about Sage Mode. Oh well.

"Sage Mode?" He smiled slightly- or at least I thought he was smiling. It was hard to tell, because he's an ape. "No, you aren't ready to learn Sage Mode. Perhaps you never will be. I have already told the Hokage that you're training with me, so there is no need to worry. Are you ready to go, swordsman?"

I nodded. "Yes, sir."

The Monkey King made some hand signs, and I was suddenly in a different place. I was in a massive forest. There was a lot of trees, all of decent sizes. I was standing in a small clearing, my feet sinking slightly into the mud.

Enma was suddenly standing there, with a poof was smoke. "You're going to need to find your way to the place by yourself."

"I don't know my way around these woods."

"Figure it out." Enma suddenly disappeared into smoke, just as quickly as he appeared.

I sighed. I was probably going to walk in the wrong direction, and get lost. This'll be a blast.

* * *

As I was walking, I heard leaves rustle. I turned, to see an ape, knuckle walking toward me. The ape resembled a gibbon- but it was the size of a gorilla. It had black fur, and white was around it's face. His face was black, but slightly lighter in color than his fur.

He walked up to me, and got on his hind-legs, standing at least a foot and a half taller than me. I avoided to look him in the eye, so I looked at his shoulder instead. The ape sized me up, looking me all around. He put his hand on my chest, and pushed me backward. I took a step backward to keep from falling. 

The ape leaned forward, and he got directly in my face. Still, I attempted to avoid looking him in the eyes. The ape started breathing heavily from his nose in my face. I thought about running, but he would probably chase me and rip my limbs off.

He pushed me backward again, but this time he reached down to my hip and grabbed both of my swords.

"Hey!" I yelled as the gorilla sized Gibbon ran away.

I chased after him- even though he was running in a different direction from where I was walking. The ape swung through the trees, with surprising agility due to his size. He was faster than me... so I'll have to use my chakra to propel myself forwards. I'll need to use more chakra than when I climb up a wall.

I made a hand sign, and gathered chakra at the soles of my feet. As my feet hit the ground and pushed me forwards, I made my chakra flare so I propelled myself forward. I began to catch up with him, but the ape started to swing faster, being to approach a small wooden house in the trees.

The ape flipped through the window. I knew that I was going too fast, so I began to slow down. I jumped into the building, to see several apes standing in the room. Among them was Enma, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. I scanned the room to see that the thief-monkey had shrank down to the size of a normal gibbon, standing about three feet tall, considering that my swords were a little bigger than he was. There was also other apes; a silverback gorilla, a baboon, a chimpanzee, and an orangutan.

I walked up to the gibbon and I held out my hand. "Give me back my swords."

"Okay, fine..." He handed me the swords, and I put them back at my hip.

"Why did you take them in the first place?"

He shrugged. "Wanted you to get here. Anyway, the King has something to say."

"Right." Enma said. I turned to him. "The two of you are going to work together. This monkey will be your go-to summon. He will be your partner, the same way the dogs are the partners of the Inuzuka."

"Can you be my go-to?"

"No. This has already been decided. We have already taken a vote." He gestured to the other apes in the room. "The two of you-" He pointed to the gibbon. "-must get to know each other, because you will work together well." He didn't leave much room for argument.

The gibbon climbed up my pant leg, and climbed all the way up to my back. He put his hand on my shoulder. "Alright, let's get outta here."

I looked around, trying to locate the door. The orangutan grunted, and I turned over to her. She opened the door, that was directly behind her.

"Thank you." I stepped toward the door, but then the silverback walked up to me. I looked at his shoulder, attempting to avoid looking him in the eye. "Do we have a problem, sir?" I asked, as calmly as I could, trying to keep the fear from my voice.

The gorilla snorted in anger, and he stood up on his hindlegs. He hooted loudly, and began beating his chest.

I jumped backwards, getting several feet away from him. I turned my head slightly so I could see how far the wall was away from me, but without completely taking my eyes off of the angry gorilla.

Enma slammed his fist into the wall. "ENOUGH!" He growled. "Let him through!"

The silverback stopped hooting, and he got back down on his knuckles. He walked away.

I nodded to Enma, then I walked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: *Aokigahara is an actual forest in Japan, nicknamed the 'Suicide Forest'. It's some spooky stuff.


	14. Hierarchy and Explanation

Episode 14: Hierarchy and Explanation

"So... how do things work here?" I asked the gibbon that robbed me a few minutes ago.

"The leader of this place is the King, who you've already meet. Then after that, there's the Simian Tetrad. Which means four, by the way. Those are the four apes that were in the room before. They each have several divisions under them, the people in those divisions are called the Congregation, which is fifty apes that are strong, but not strong enough to be the King or a Tetrad. That's where I'm at. After the Congregation, there's Fledglings, which is everyone else."

"So what is your name, and the names of each of the Tetrad?"

"My name is Kazuki Fuku. The gorilla's name is Satori. He doesn't trust anyone aside from apes. Misaki is the baboon, he is a quiet observer. He sits back and watches, and then he guesses the person's personality. Hyosube is the chimpanzee- he is my master. He is calculating and cold- but only to people that he doesn't know. When you get to know him, he's really cool. The last is the orangutan, her name is Okubi. She is extremely nice."

"I see."

"I already know all the stuff about the Leaf Village." Kazuki scratched his head. "Come on. Let's train." He did a front flip over me, and he grabbed my Sakabato -sheath and all- from my hip. He drew it, and then jumped away from me. He made a hand sign, and he began to grow to the size of a human. "We'll have a duel, rotating who uses which sword."

I drew my Imagine Blade, and readied to attack. Kazuki advanced, stabbing at me with the sword. I jumped to the right and swung the Imagine Blade at his head. He ducked, and then slashed at me again. I blocked the attack with my sword, and punched him in the chest with my free hand.

* * *

Kazuki and I battled for about six rounds of three minutes- with a one minute break between- by the sixth round both of us were tired. I hit him in the side of the head with my Imagine Blade- knocking him on the ground.

Kazuki lied there for a moment, and I put my sword away. He stood up, and sheathed the Sakabato, and handed it to me.

"Thanks. Do you want to head back to the Leaf with me?"

He rubbed the side of his head. "Sure. Just so ya know, I don't need to be with you all the time- unlike the Inuzuka Clan." He shrank down to his normal size, and jumped onto my back, holding onto my shoulder.

"How do I get back to the Leaf?"

"King Enma needs to send you back."

* * *

I sauntered back to Enma. "Can you send me back to the Leaf, sir?"

He nodded. "Yes, Genji." He made some hand signs, and I disappeared into smoke.

I reappeared in the training field, where I was teleported away from when I was teleported away by Monkey King Enma.

I adjusted my swords, and I looked up at the sky. The sky was darkening, I should head home, so I might be able to sleep tonight.

I jogged to my house, and I saw Sora was slashing at the air with her knife. "Hey, Genji. Food in the fridge," She said without turning to me.

"Thanks."

She continued to practice with her weapon once again. I walked to the kitchen, and I searched for the food. There was a bowl with noodles and some kind of meat thrown in.

"You're not going to heat it up?" She asked.

"Nah." The meat was pretty good. I think it was chicken, but I'm not really sure.

Just then, my parents walked into the building. My mother looked over to me. "After you eat, we're going to start training again. I was a little late this time, because I was doing a long mission. I hope you didn't have to wait long."

"I just got here a few minutes ago." I sighed.

My father walked away, and my mother scavenged some food; an apple and a bag of bread rolls. She ate the apple there, and I put my dish in the sink.

Then my father came back, carrying in a pole weapon. It was like a battle axe combined with a spear.

"What the heck is that thing?" I asked.

"That's a halberd." Said my mother. "It was originally my father's weapon, but he gave it to Saeki- your father- after we got married. It's a tradition, he'll pass it down to one of your father-in-laws depending on which one of you gets married first."

"Women are too much trouble." I joked.

My father looked over at my mother.

"We should get going." My mother said. "Come on, Genji." She grabbed the bag of bread, and the three of us went out to where we trained yesterday. I adjusted my swords.

"So I would assume that we are not training my chakra?"

"No, we are." She said. "You're going to need to dodge him, much like our last battle. But you can't run away like you did before. You can still retreat a little, but you can't run and hide."

"Dang. That's my main strategy."

* * *

The three of us were standing in the woods where I trained in days past. My father took his weapon and pointed it at me.

"Are you ready?" My mother asked.

"Not really. But I guess." I drew my Imagine Blade, and I held it so the butt of the sword was about an inch above my navel, and the tip of the weapon was pointed toward his throat.

He charged and stabbed at me, but I swatted it to the side and slashed down at him. He blocked the attack with his shoulder, and then slashed horizontally at me- letting go with the arm he had blocked the attack with. I ducked and tried to jump backward- but he grabbed the sword before I could escape.

I ducked low again, but his polearm grazed my shoulder. I kicked him in the leg, and he let go of my weapon. I jumped backward, and landed a few feet out of the range of his weapon.

Think. Think. I've got shorter range than he does when he has the polearm. If I go into his range, he'll just grab onto my Imagine Blade again. There might be a way to disarm him, but then he still has the height advantage over me. If I can keep my sword, then I should be able to beat him.

He pointed his weapon at me like a spear, and he advanced- stabbing at me. I dodged to the side at the last second, and grabbed onto the wooden part of the weapon with both hands. While he was momentarily surprised, I kicked him hard in the stomach. He let go of the polearm, and fell backward several steps.

I threw the weapon off to the side, and I advanced my father- at the same time drawing my Imagine Blade. I slashed down at him, but he effortlessly flipped over me, and retrieved his weapon. He stabbed at me, but I parried the blade of the weapon to the side, and I grabbed onto the wooden part of the weapon once again. But before I could take it from him again, the weapon burnt into my skin. I groaned, and let go.

"What... is that?" I knew that I wouldn't be able to grip my sword with that hand. Damn, that was my good hand too. Good thing I can switch to Orthodox.

Just then... I realized this was going to be a long training session.

* * *

After quite some time, I realized that I'd need to put chakra into my body in order to win this battle. The question is, where should I put it? In my feet to make me move faster, or my hands and sword to make me strike faster? I decided on both.

* * *

It was dark by the time my mother stopped the battle. "That's enough, you two. You did good, Genji. Except for the fact that he was holding back." She threw me a piece of bread, and I caught it. She threw my father one two, and he caught it. She ate the last piece.

* * *

Finally, I made it back to my bed. I lied down, and starred up at the ceiling.

But I couldn't sleep. It wasn't that I wasn't tired, I was extremely tired- I hadn't gotten a good night's rest in a while. It wasn't that there was a lot on my mind, I was concentrating on sleep. But there was too much adrenaline in my blood for me to simply fall asleep. I let my mind wander.

What kind of a mission were we going to do tomorrow? Would I be able to pass the Chunin Exams? Would Hitoshi-sensei even allow us to go to the Chunin Exams? What kind of people would I have to fight if I made it? I'm a close combat fighter. So long ranged fighters like Kankuro or Shino would completely destroy me. But I'm also not fast like Kiba or Neji. So fighters that are faster than me would destroy me as well. But I have more range than a normal person, because of my swords. But up against ninja, I probably pale in comparison.

I wouldn't be able to beat Gaara, Kankuro, or Temari. I couldn't beat Shikamaru, because he could easily just trap me in the Shadow Possession Jutsu. I might be able to beat Choji or Ino, because I'm faster than Choji and I'm stronger than Ino. I couldn't beat Kiba, Shino, or Hinata. I couldn't beat Sasuke because of his Fire Ball Jutsu, and I couldn't beat Naruto because he can make so many different versions of himself. I could beat Sakura, though, but that's not saying much. I couldn't beat Lee, Neji, or even Tenten. Lee's faster than me, and so is Neji- but Neji also has the Gentle Fist like Hinata. Tenten has a lot better range than I do, even though she rarely won a fight in the series.

* * *

After quite a bit of letting my mind wonder, I opened my eyes to see it was bright now. I don't remember falling asleep, and I feel like I didn't sleep at all. But the time seemed to slip away as if I had been asleep.

I got up, and got dressed. I put both my swords at my hips, and went down stairs.

"Sup?" Asked Sora, who was eating an orange. She was sitting at the table, with a fruit basket sitting in the center of the table.

I shrugged and grabbed a tangerine. "Are you going to do a mission today?"

"Yeah, I do missions every day." She responded. "And you? Are you going to do a mission or train today?"

"Both." I said, then I took a bite out of my apple.

"You need to take a break, or you're going to pass out or something."

"I'll be fine." The last several nights I barely got any sleep. She's right, but I'll probably be okay. I need to grind missions so I can get in the Chunin Exams, and I need to get strong so I don't die there. I haven't really been keeping track how many missions we did, or how many missions we need to get to the exam.

"You look really tired."

"I'll be okay, don't worry about me." As I stood up, I knew I wasn't going to be able to make it through this day if things continued as they were. In hindsight, I probably should have stayed home. But I was too stubborn.


	15. Dazed and Confused

Episode 15: Dazed and Confused*

I left the house, feeling like I got hit by a bus. I found the meeting spot, and I realized that I was a little early. I sat down at a near by bench, and closed my eyes for a second.

* * *

I woke to a snapping noise. "Wake up." Said a stern voice.

I opened my eyes to see a gloved hand in my face. On the back was the kanji for skill (技). The person who was attached to the hand was Hitoshi-sensei. Behind him stood Kaori and Rukuto.

"If you're that tired, go back home." Hitoshi-sensei growled.

"I'm good, sir." But the fact is, I felt even worse now. I stood up, and walked over to my squadmates.

Hitoshi turned to look at us. He proceeded to explain our mission, but I couldn't understand what he was saying. It was like my head was under water.

"Hey, do you got that?" Asked Kaori. I nodded in response. "You don't look so good. Maybe you should go home."

"I'm fine." I said. I'm a shinobi, for crying out loud. I can't just be a little tired and go home from an important mission.

I was going through the motions for that mission. I can't even remember what exactly we were doing. But after we returned to the Hokage Mansion, I knew I was done for. I fell forward, and the earth rose up to meet me.

* * *

I woke up, lying in a hospital bed. I was so tired. I groaned, and sat up.

"Nice to see you're finally awake." Said a woman's voice.

I turned to see Kaori sitting next to me. "Hey..."

"You need to start taking care of yourself, Genji. You are a shinobi, but you're still just a human. And humans need sleep. If you can't sleep at night, I have pills that you can take- I have trouble sleeping at night too. Either way, you can't just do missions and train and have your health suffer because of it."

I had nothing to say to that. She was completely correct. I was being stupid. I should have stayed home and slept. I should have slept instead of training so much. I should have done a lot of things. This is my fault.

"Do you understand, Genji?"

God, she sounds so much like my mother. "Yeah." Then I lost consciousness again.

* * *

I woke some time later, and a nurse was sitting on the chair next to my bed.

I tried to think of something clever to say, but nothing came to me. Before I could think for too long, she turned and looked at me.

"You're free to go home whenever you want, Mister Kureno. But you need to sleep at least eight hours a night."

"How long was I out?" 

"The day you passed out was yesterday. It's the middle of the day now. Lucky for you, we healed your nose."

"My nose?"

"When you fell, you got a bad bloody nose. Though, it wasn't broken."

"Nice." I got out of the bed, and I grabbed my clothes from the small desk that was sitting next to my bed. "Thanks, and goodbye." I took off out of the building, with my energy finally replenished.

I ran outside, the sun burning brightly in the air. I leapt across the buildings, toward my house.

As soon as I made it in there, I walked in. Sitting at the table, were my parents and sister.

"Hey... what's up?" I asked, even though I knew what was going on.

"Genji..." My mother shook her head.

 _You can't just push yourself constantly._ I heard my father's voice in my head. _If you constantly push yourself, you can get hurt. You're still just a kid, Genji. You need to sleep regularly._

"Yeah, I know." I said. "I realized how stupid I was being. I'll make sure I do better."

"Can you promise us that you won't do this again?" My mother asked.

"I promise."

My father smiled, and stood up. He put his hand on my shoulder. _That's a good man. It takes a big heart to admit when you're wrong._

I nodded. "Thanks."

He removed his hand, and then nodded to my mother.

"If you already know what you did was stupid, I'm not going to lecture you about it. It'll only waste time." She said. "But don't let it happen again."

I sighed. "Okay Mom. It won't happen again."

"You're dismissed." She told me. She turned to Sora. "You are too."

The two of us returned to the upstairs, and I went into my room.

I had nothing better to do, so I started training with my swords.

* * *

After a little while, Sora came in.

"Yo?" I asked, sheathing my Sakabato.

She leaned against my doorway.

"If you're here to lecture me, don't. I already know."

"I wasn't going to talk about that."

"So, what do you need?" I sat down on my bed.

"Tomorrow, there's a mission for some the members in our clan."

"Uh huh?"

"You won't be with your squad, but it'll still count for your mission count for the Chunin Exams. Also, you won't get paid in a monetary way."

"What's the point, then?"

"You get paid in a sword. I personally have no interest in swords, so I'm not going to do this one." She eyed my weapons. "And this sword actually has a blade on it."

"Yeah, I'll do it, then." I said.

"Well tell Lord Hokage that, then. And only one person is going to get the sword, so you might have to fight some people for it."

"Right." I said. "When is this mission?"

"Tomorrow. Like I said two minutes ago."

I nodded once again. "I'll get that sword."

"If you say so."

* * *

The next day, I found Hitoshi-sensei standing outside the Hokage's office.

"Sensei," I called. "Would it be alright if I did a mission without the squad?"

"Why would you do that?"

"It's a mission requested to my clan. It's to earn a sword."

He thought for a moment. "You can. We'll be doing a mission as well."

"Thank you, sensei." I walked into the office. Lord Third looked up and smiled at me.

"Are you here for the mission for the Kureno clan?"

"Yes, sir."

* * *

After waiting, three other members of the Kureno clan walked in.

"There is only one sword for the reward." Lord Third said. "So you will have to decide amongst yourselves who will get the weapon."

"Can we see this weapon?" Asked one of my relatives. He had long black hair, and he had a black spear at his back. He seemed to be around my age.

"Yes." He lifted a sword. It was a forward curvature sword**. The sword was a Flippino sword, known as the Ginunting. The curve was slightly more prominent than a Katana. There was little to no guard, just a tiny piece of the handle that hung over the fingers.The handle itself was more curved than the blade, it pointing forward as well. It also had finger grooves. The scabbard was wooden, and nicely painted.

The Third took the weapon out of the sheath, showing that the blade was fairly sharp, and it was a nice silver color.

The other guy made a face. "That sword looks weird." He said. He turned to the rest of us. "One of you guys can have it." He had short red hair, and he had a scythe at his back.

"I've no interest in forward curvature swords." Said a girl with light brown hair, tied back behind her head. She had a butterfly sword, at her hip. It was a short straight sword, with a guard at the back of the handle like a sai's guard, but much shorter. At the front of the handle was a circular guard protecting her fingers in case it slipped. Under closer inspection, I realized there were two hilts, side by side- as if to make it look like there was only one weapon.

I turned to the spear-meister. "Do you have interest in this weapon?"

"I do. I need a close combat weapon as a back-up weapon." He nodded to my weapons. "You already have two swords."

I drew my Imagine Blade, and held it out by where the blade of the sword would have been. "There's no sheath on this blade. It's just a lead weapon." I put that back at my waist, and drew my Sakabato. "This is a reversed-blade sword. I swing it like a normal sword, but I can't cut people unless I flip it around." I turned the sword around, so the blade was pointed toward him. "And when I do that, the swing is awkward." I sheathed my sword.

He nodded. "I understand. It looks like you need it just as much as I do."

"We'll have to decide who gets it." I said. "But let's do it after this mission."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: *This is a reference to a Led Zeppelin's song by the same title.
> 
> **A katana is backward curvature, so the curve of this blade goes the opposite direction.


	18. La Espada y Las Papeles (Plus Important Note at the bottom)

Episode 18: La Espada y Las Papeles*

I was examining at my new sword, and I remembered I needed a name for it. Well... it's a Filipino sword, so... I could name it after that. I know the actual name is called a Ginunting, but that doesn't have the ring to it that Sakabato or Imagine Blade has. Hmm... I know Spanish used to be the official language of the Philippines, but I don't know what it is now. I suppose the Spanish word for sword words. Espada.

So, I have La Espada- the forward curvature sword. The Sakabato- the reversed blade sword. And the Imagine Blade- the sword without a blade. Along with the three swords, I have the Summoning Jutsu, and chakra control. I should probably get a few more techniques before the Chunin Exams start.

* * *

I meet up with Hitoshi-sensei, and my squad mates.

"Alright, another mission." Hitoshi-sensei said. "Come on, guys."

* * *

After the mission, I started to walk back home.

"Hey." Rukuto said.

I turned to him. "Yeah?"

"You need to take care of yourself better."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever." Leave it to Rukuto to try to gripe at me for something everyone else already gripped at me about.

I head back to my house, and I lied down on my bed, and took a short nap.

* * *

I woke up, and I walked back down the stairs. My parents were eating dinner at the table.

"Hey." I said. "I need another couple of techniques."

"Like what?"

"I suppose I could learn one of the Chakra Natures."

My mother nodded, and stood up. She put a pair of black gloves on, and she walked out of the building.

"Was I supposed to follow her?" I asked my father, who shook his head.

A minute later, she returned, carrying a piece of white paper. "These are Litmus Papers. If it gets exposed to any type of chakra, it'll react differently. If you have fire chakra, like your father, the paper will turn to ash. If you have wind, it'll split in half. If you have lightning the paper will wrinkle. If you have earth, like Sora or I, the paper will turn to dirt and crumble away. And if you have water the paper will become damp."

She handed me the paper, and almost immediately the paper reacted. The paper burst into flames, and then disappeared in the air.

"So, you will learn Fire Style from your father."

* * *

My father and I stood next to the training field, with a Water Style User that he knew sitting next to us, in case the fire got out of control.

He proceeded to make the hand signs, and then blasted several small balls of fire toward me. The other guy splashed water at them, knocking the flames out of the air.

_This is called the Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu._ He thought. _You can use this technique in a lot of ways. As a distraction technique, a way to force your opponent the way you want them to go, or as a direct attack. You can control each of the balls, so it makes it hard to avoid these._

He showed me the hand signs. _Build up chakra in your chest, and then blast it out of your mouth._

* * *

I made the hand signs, and built of the chakra in my chest, and then brought it up to my throat. I gagged, and then opened my mouth- a small, puny ball of flames flew out- then disappeared in the air. It felt like I was going to vomit. "Is the technique supposed to feel like I'm going to puke my guts out?"

He smiled. _You'll get used to it._

I attempted the technique again, this time the ball was a little bigger, but not by much.

* * *

I attempted the technique for quite some time, until I was nearly out of chakra.

"Alright... I'm heading back." I said.

* * *

The next day, Hitoshi-sensei handed the three of us papers. "It's time for the Chunin Exams. If any of you aren't ready for it, then don't sign up. But I think you are, so I suggest you do it."

I signed the paper on the spot, as did the other two. We handed the paper back to him. Our Sensei nodded, and then started to walk away. "Be ready, you three."

* * *

Later that night, I woke up hearing footsteps in my room. I reached out, and I grabbed my Imagine Blade off my nightstand. I ever so slowly removed my blanket, and I stopped and listened. The footsteps started again, moving toward me. I took a step backward, and I reached for my light-switch. I quickly slammed it on, then I charged at the man- stabbing him in the shoulder.

I slammed him into the wall, and I punched at his head. He grabbed the sword and ducked, and kicked at my ankles. I jumped backward- and he took off- leaping through my window- which he must have opened to break in.

Just then, my mother ran in.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Nothing." I said, knowing that the person who attacked me was Iruka in a Transformation Jutsu, testing to make sure I was good enough to take the Chunin Exams.

"What was that thud?"

"Fell out of my bed."

"With your sword?"

"As I fell, I knocked it off my nightstand. I was picking it back up."

She didn't seem convinced. "Why is your window open?"

I shrugged. "I just wanted a breeze in here last night."

She sighed, and then walked out, closing the door behind her.

* * *

The next day, I walked over, and I found Squad Seven, Naruto's squad.

"Hey, Genji!" He yelled, and ran over. "When'd you get that other sword?"

"I got it instead of getting paid for a mission." I looked up at him. "Something's different about you. You seem... stronger. More powerful, or more serious even."

He grinned. "I did battle against a very powerful shinobi!"

"Oh yeah?" I asked. "Who was that?"

"Zabuza Momochi." Sakura said. "The Demon of the Hidden Mist."

"You guys fought _him_?" I scratched my head. "How did you do it? Did Kakashi-sensei do most of the work?"

"Well..." Sakura said. "Zabuza's partner fought Sasuke and Naruto. Those two managed to defeat him, but Kakashi-sensei mostly battled against Zabuza."

"The Demon had a partner?" I asked.

"Yes." Naruto nodded, an serious look crossing his face. "His name was Haku."

"Are you guys going to do the Chunin Exams?" Rukuto changed the subject.

Naruto grinned. "Yeah! And we'll see you there!"

A smile crossed Rukuto's face. "When we next meet... we may meet as enemies."

"The exams start in two days." Naruto said. "You guys better not chicken out!"

"We won't." Kaori said.

I turned to Sasuke, who remained silent the entire conversation. "What's up, Sasuke?"

He scoffed, and turned away. "This is a waste of time."

Sakura frowned. "Come on, Sasuke... Please don't leave."

Rukuto laughed. "That's an Uchiha for you." Sasuke stopped, and glared at him. Rukuto glared back. "Got a problem?"

"Come on guys, stop!" Sakura said, stepping between them. "We don't need to fight here..."

"Just so you know..." Sasuke said. "If we meet in the Exams... I'll crush you."

"Go ahead and try." Rukuto ran his fingers through his hair. "My Squad will destroy yours."

Sasuke shook his hand, and walked away.

"I guess that's my queue to leave." I said, starting to leave. "See ya later, Naruto."

"Goodbye, Genji!" He yelled back.

* * *

I returned to the training field, and I practiced the Fire Style technique. Once again, it was still pretty awful. I tried and tried and tried once again. Each time I got a little better, but none of them had more than one ball of fire.

I scratched my chin, and headed back home.

* * *

"Hey, Dad. I need help with the Phoenix Flower Jutsu. I can only blast one ball at a time, and it's still pretty small."

_Don't try to make one big blast, that's not what the technique is made for. You need to make several small attacks._ He said. _You need to bring the chakra up to your mouth, but only put a little in your mouth a time, keeping the rest in your throat. After releasing that ball, you need to make another one, and again keeping the rest in your throat._

I nodded. "Awesome, thanks." I then turned, and went back to the training ground.

* * *

I walked back to my house after running nearly out of chakra. Exhausted, I ate and then went right to sleep.

* * *

Notes: *This means "the sword, and the papers" the 'y' which means and, is pronounced like the English letter E. It's Spanish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've put myself in a rather... unique position. Editing this story makes me hate myself. I see so many opportunities for something cool to happen in the future. But I already wrote on way ahead and I absolutely loath going back and adding things in.   
> Anyway, so I don't really like this story. No big deal, that's happened before. I can just stop writing it. But the problem is that I already wrote a bunch of it. And unlike before when I've wrote a lot of a story then decided I didn't like it, I have posted this one on the internet.  
> I have several possibilities here. I could delete the story and just pretend like it never existed (because it doesn't quite suit my current tastes). I could continue updating chapters, despite not liking it (for my fans). I could post all the chapters I wrote, leave it up for a while so people can read it- then delete it after a while. Or I could post everything, see if I have developed another interest in the story again, then start writing it again (this option is only feasible if I decide I want to write it. Writing is fun for me and it won't be fun if I have to force myself to write it.)  
> So I'm going to leave the option up to you guys. What do you think? If no one says anything... I'll just decide myself.  
> I know my profile is a little barren at the moment, but I will start putting more stuff on there eventually.


End file.
